Wrong, All Wrong
by SakuraWolf11
Summary: As the wrongfully-labelled savior, Aster struggles with the knowledge of living a lie and wanting to protect his twin Harry from those who wish to harm the real Boy-Who-Lived.
1. Unbroken Dreams

Wrong 1

Slowly opening my eyes, I could hear voices outside my bedroom door.

"James, he's asleep. Leave him be."

"But", suddenly my father's voice quieted to a whisper. How did I get here? Last I remember I was in the library…

I could hear the voices of my parents talking, but I couldn't quite catch the words. Then my father's voice rose in volume, "My son _has_ to like Quidditch!" My father almost sounded as if he were a child protesting that 'Santa Claus _is _real!' and I could just imagine the pout that was probably placed upon his face.

I stifled my laughter to hear my mother's reply. "Quiet down, James! Why can't you understand that he has _both _of our genes?"

"Yeah, Prongs, you should get the idea that Lily's genes took over, especially after we found him sleeping in the library. That kid's pretty heavy for a nine year old," Uncle Remus was here!

I leapt out of bed, throwing the door open. Normally I would've been horrified to see that I had thrown the door right into my father's face, but I was more concerned with hugging my uncle to death. "Uncle Remus!"

Rich laughter flowed into my ears, "Hey Pup, you're awake then?"

"Hey!" I turned, just then noticing my father leaning against a wall with his hand over his face. Uncle Remus' laughed again, seeing my mortified face.

"It's okay, Pup," my uncle said, "I'll protect you," the laughter in the hallway spread as Uncle Remus ran away from my father, still carrying me in his arms.

My mother was not as amused. "Remus, James! Don't give us another reason to take my child to the hospital today!" That's right, I had an appointment today. I never liked those, all the Healers fussing over who got to examine me. Being a famous 'Savior' got annoying at times. Oh, I almost forgot!

I tried to get out of my uncle's arms so I could get back to the library. I needed to get back to that book! Once I broke free I started to run off to the library.

"Whoa there, kiddo," my father said. "We need to take you to your appointment now," why did my father have to want to be on time today of all days? Seeing my pout, he said "I know you don't like them, but we need to make sure everything's okay with your scar. You remember what we told you, right?"

I nodded, looking down at my feet, "An evil dark person wanted to hurt me but only gave me the scar on my face before disappearing, right?" What a load of bull. I may only be nine, but I'd have to be half-mad not to know a fairy tale when I heard one. Evil people didn't just 'disappear' or father wouldn't have a job. What's more, I remember that night. I remember _everything_, down to the little purple butterfly sticker that was on the window of our nursery room that night. That reminded me, my brother…! The bloody appointment could wait; I needed to get back to the library!

Before I could do anything, my father had scooped me up and whisked me off to the hospital. This was one of the few times I despised my parents. The lying, attention-mongering, prejudiced… I should stop before my thoughts actually turn into words. We were already at the infamous St. Mungo's. With every step my father took I steeled myself for the inevitable encounter ahead of me.

My Uncle Remus opened the door, letting mother in before my father walked through with me in his arms. Three, two, one-

"Oh my **GOSH**! It's Aster Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived!" If that banshee could screech any louder my young ears would burst. As usual my mother muttered about how the staff could never keep quiet about my appointments and how she didn't understand what was so impossible about setting up an at-home visit.

I quickly hid my face, clutching my father with my head in the crook of his neck. It was a worthless effort as people swarmed us anyway. It took a full half hour and a plethora of Healers to wade through the growing crowd and save my family from their grasps. We were led to my usual check-up room, fifth door on the right down the second hallway of the seventh floor…

"_Mommy?" We were walking along the second hallway of the seventh floor._

"_Yes dear?" I was only six, so my mother towered over me. Even so, she didn't seem intimidating at all, never having to command my attention or obedience. It was that kind, cheerful, and proud smile that drove me to make her happy. It was the loss of that smile that made me fear what was ahead. If only I hadn't…_

"_Why are we here?" my voice shook with my growing fear. "Is it because I asked about-"_

_My mother quickly stopped me, "No, it's okay." She never interrupted me, "It's just a little check-up, that's all. The scar the evil man gave you might still hurt you and your father and I want to make sure it won't, okay?"_

"_Okay…" I could see the nervousness in her eyes, like what I saw in father's eyes whenever he tried to lie to mother about a surprise. My mother was lying to me._

_After a few more steps in silence and I couldn't help but break it. "Mommy?"_

"_Yes dear?"_

_I wondered if she had intentionally replied with the same phrase. "Do I have a brother?"_

_Silence again. My mother almost stopped walking but kept moving, trying to act as if she hadn't been shocked. The silence stretched so long, I opened my mouth to say something else when she answered me._

"… _No. You're an only child, little one. Do you want a sibling?" I could almost feel her nervousness now, and it just barely tinged her voice._

_Shaking my head, I replied, "No, Mommy, I was just wondering…"_

Water pooled in my eyes and my voice longed to cry out just remembering that instance. She and my father probably knew I wanted to go back to the library and dragged me here just to torment me. What kind of parents lie about their own children? I _know_ I have a brother and I _will_ find him. I'm _so close_ to finding him…

We reached the room, and shut ourselves away from the celebrity-obsessed masses. Mother had been so upset to hear me say that once, knowing I had gotten the phrase from father. She didn't want her child growing up learning the immature terms and phrases my father tended to sprout on a daily basis. I knew she wasn't _truly_ upset, but it was still quite a sight to see my father cower at the hands of my angered mother.

As usual, I was placed upon a comfy chair while my parents left the room to wait outside. Something about 'patient privacy' preventing even parents to watch over a patient's check-up once they reached a certain age. It was one of those useless rules that existed in the world. Oh well, I was actually glad for it once I found out Healer's were under oath not to intentionally harm their patients unless for healing purposes. It kept my parents from embarrassing me by telling the Healer useless little stories about my life. I really did _not_ think the Healer needed to know if I had peed in my bed the other night.

Which I didn't.

Anyway, the Healer entered the room, the same Healer I've had for the past three years. He looked like what most every kid imagined a Healer to look like. The man wore a white coat and glasses. His name was Mr. Pill, a name I used to laugh at until mother made me take a few. I was never more grateful for potions in my life. Swallowing something whole is an unsettling experience for a child. It is, really.

"Okay, kiddo," Mr. Pill began, drawing me away from my thoughts, "We're going to start some new tests today. It's to test things like your memory just to make sure you're developing like a normal kid, okay?" I nodded silently. Even after three years I was still a little shy around Mr. Pill.

"We'll start with the normal ones first. Reflexes okay, pulse okay, hearing, sight…" Mr. Pill went on, running through his various tests. I didn't really have to do anything; Mr. Pill would just wave his wand around and look at a piece of paper. Sometimes I'd have to hold a fake wand, one that tested whether or not I was still magical and other stuff.

Then, Mr. Pill brought out a few pictures. He showed me one and told me to try and memorize as much as I could about the picture. The next picture looked a lot like the other one with a few differences. I was told to pick out the differences, and I found all of them. It was sort of obvious to me, so I didn't really see why he even asked. I told him that. He just looked at me weird, and brought out a few more pairs. Again I found all of the differences.

I received another weird look. Geez, what was it with people and looking at me weird? Anyway, Mr. Pill brought out another picture for me to look at. Instead of pulling out another picture afterwards, he brought out a piece of paper and told me to try drawing the picture as best as I could. I didn't touch the quill he offered. I knew I would only make a mess. Mother, ever the muggleborn, had given me a pencil, eraser, and even a box of crayons to take wherever I went. Being the Boy-Who-Lived meant I would have to sit somewhere while the adults talked, so I was left to draw on my own all the time.

Soon enough I had finished drawing the picture. I could remember the picture exactly as I had seen it, so it was as simple as tracing and filling in the lines. At nine years old I could trace and color just fine.

Mr. Pill took one look at my drawing before rushing out of the room. Was my picture that bad that he ran away? I thought it was done pretty well. I took the drawing, determined to show my parents the wonders of my artistic ability.

"What do you mean, Mr. Pill?" the worry that filled my mother's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"He has a photographic memory, Ms. Potter. Your son can remember everything he sees in vivid detail, and will have this ability for the rest of his life." Now that was cool. I knew I had a good memory, but I didn't know it was special.

"He remembers _everything_, Mr. Pill?" my father sounded proud and afraid at the same time. Why? I thought it was something awesome to have…

My mother gasped, "You don't think he remembers–"

"No," Mr. Pill cut in, "he shouldn't remember that night. Don't worry. He was only an infant, right?" I guessed my parents nodded as he continued, "Photographic memories don't tend to go back that far. While he _is_ the Boy-Who-Lived, I doubt he remembers that night."

The conversation continued but I wasn't paying attention anymore. I _did_ remember that night, but it was obvious no one was going to listen to me.

_With a bang the door to the nursery was blast open, mother falling unconscious as a block of wood smacked her in the head. She fell to the floor in a bundle of limbs and debris._

_I wanted to cry, but stopped as I saw someone enter the room. I couldn't see far enough yet to tell whether the figure was friend or foe. Instinctively I grabbed onto someone next to me. Looking over at the person it was as if I was looking in the mirror. I've seen baby pictures of myself before, and this baby next to me was like my carbon copy. He had the same green eyes, the same black hair, even the same little mole behind his left ear._

_A piercing laugh snatched my attention away from my copy. "Ah, the mudblood decided to die before I got here… pity." The cold, cruel voice sent shivers down my spine just remembering it. Equally cruel red eyes turned their attention on us babies. "The little Potter twins, how pleased I am to see you. Wormtail! Which one is the elder twin?"_

_At those words a little rat scurried into the room and suddenly morphed into an equally scrawny man. The person stuttered almost incoherently but his hand easily pointed towards me._

"_They were born attached at the head, my Lord, but the separation left this one more powerful than the other." _

"_Nonetheless," the dark figure replied, "neither of them will be a threat to me soon enough," a hand lifted a wand into the air, the thin piece of wood pointed straight between my eyes._

_I felt tears fall out of my eyes, sobs on the brink of escaping my infant mouth. Looking over at my twin I saw a curious expression on his face._

_The other person must have seen the expression as well. He moved to aim at my brother. Laughing he proclaimed, "You shall be first, child, for being fearless in the face of death." A hate-filled look overcame the person's face, "Avada Kedavra!"_

_The spell shot forward, colliding with my twin's face. Immediately I felt a sharp pain strike into my mind. Screams erupted from both me and my twin. I could feel something between us strain and panic set into me. For an entire moment I could _feel_ my brother disappear, but just as quickly I felt him return as if he never left. The green light of the spell filled the room, and in my mind I wished my toddler-self had kept track of my brother._

_Suddenly a wave of _something_ spread through the room, sending the other person to his knees. His screams joined ours until he erupted in a brighter flash of light._

_I remember my vision warping as it filled with red. Looking over at my twin I barely had time to register that he now had one red eye before everything went black._

The door opened in front of me, startling me out of my memories. Mr. Pill was smiling down at me and I examined my reflection in his glasses. In the lenses I could see my right green eye and my left golden one, the mark that I was the Boy-Who-Lived. Small scars extended from the eye, making it look like a blazing sun.

Again, Mr. Pill jolted me out of my thoughts. "You can go home, now."

Yes! I can finally go back home! I eagerly ran out of the room, latching onto my mother's arm. She smiled down at me, a sad look in her eyes. In a moment she blinked the sadness away.

After being carried by Uncle Remus through the hordes of fans again I arrived home. I ran to the library, only halfway paying attention to my father and mother arguing over my genetic influences again.

Once I got inside the library I sped towards my table. It was smaller than the adult's table to accommodate for my size. Father was saddened and proud at the same time when I had been going to the library often enough to request my own table. I liked flying, I really did, but finding my brother was more important.

On my table was a book I had gotten from Uncle Remus two years ago. It was a wondrous piece of magic; it would only open for its owner, me. I told Uncle Remus it was for dreams, but that was a lie. Stashed between the pages were letters I had stolen from my mother. She had a habit of keeping a copy of her letters so it wasn't hard to steal the copies and leave the originals.

Using another feature of the magical book I looked for the word 'orphanage'. The book would go through all of the pages, even the ones that weren't _technically_ pages of the book, and find the word for me. Surprisingly mother didn't keep her letters in order, nor did she write the date, so I've had to go through dozens of pages looking for the right one. I knew I was close to finding my brother when she mentioned giving birth to twins in the last few letters I had read.

_Everything was black. I remembered falling off my broom… Had I died? Even though I was only six years old I knew what death was. I also knew it was something I didn't want to be right now. I felt fear and panic begin to rise within me._

_Suddenly, my eyes opened. The room wasn't mine. It was worn down and dirty. I doubted if house elves lived this poorly._

_It was when the body started to move on its own that I realized I was somewhere else. Was I dreaming? The person I inhabited moved across a cold floor. Reaching a mirror I looked into the reflection._

_A half-gold half-red gaze stared back at me._

'_Wha- what?' the boy exclaimed in his mind. I knew he was thinking it as I saw his mouth had not moved._

'_Um… hi…'_

_The eyes widened further. It was then that I noticed that this boy looked like a copy of me. This was my twin! The brother I remembered in my memories! He didn't have my 'Sun Scars' as fans called them, even with my golden eye. He did, however, have a straight scar slicing down the center of his right red eye. The cut seemed to have slit his pupil, making it look almost feline or snake-like. Some of the red from the iris also seemed to have sucked the red out of the whites of his eye, making the red around the pupil stand out even more. While my Sun Scars where short and many, his scar was long, extending from an inch or two above his eye down to just above his lips._

'_What are you doing in my head?' his twin demanded, now glaring at his own reflection._

_The angered voice shot down my excitement at having found my brother. 'Oh, um… I…'_

'_Hurry up!'_

'_If you wouldn't snap at me maybe I'd have time to reply!' Why was this other me so difficult to deal with?_

_Surprisingly, the boy smiled. I think father said that expression was something called a 'smirk'. 'That's better. I'd be ashamed to think someone had penetrated my mind with only half a heart.'_

'_What's pene… pene…'_

_His face fell. 'I see I was mistaken. I mean 'entered' my mind.'_

'_Oh! Well, I remembering falling… and then I woke up here…' I hoped this would be enough and that I wouldn't get yelled at again. It wasn't the best feeling in the world to have your long lost twin mad at you._

'_Hmm… Who are you?'_

'_I'm your twin!'_

_The boy's eyes narrowed angrily, 'While that would answer a few questions about you being in my mind, I find it rather hard to believe. Why would my dear twin brother decide to show up after six long years in my head?'_

'_I, I didn't _mean_ to…'_

'_Why in the world would I be in this god forsaken orphanage if I had a family!' my twin exclaimed. While he was obviously trying to hide it, I could see the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Or eye, as the golden eye was mine… Whatever, this whole event was confusing me._

_Suddenly I felt my presence being pulled away. I didn't want to leave my twin in this state of mind. 'I'll prove it to you,' the words escaped me in a determined certainty I was surprised to feel. 'I'll find you, brother, and take you away from this place. I swear it!'_

Shaking away the memory, I read the latest letter. Going down the page, I noticed it was a letter to an 'Uncle Sirius'. I remembered him; I remembered him yelling at mother and father about something. Uncle Remus had taken me away before I could make sense of anything that was being said.

Paying more attention to reading I found my mother explaining to Uncle Sirius that someone named Dumbledore, what an odd name, had told mother and father that something was wrong with my brother. That whatever happened that night had changed him and that he couldn't be allowed to stay with me. That he was 'dark'…

Thinking back to when I saw my brother, I just knew he wasn't dark. Mother and father always told me that dark people were evil and that they were the ones who had tried to hurt me. My brother wouldn't hurt me. I knew it. So why did this Dumbledore and my parents think he would hurt me?

My thoughts have wandered again. Continuing my reading, I finally found what I was looking for:

_Oh, Sirius, I am so sorry. Dumbledore says it's for the best so James and I have to trust him. He knows better than we do. We couldn't see it in Peter and we only realized too late… It breaks my heart, but we have to do this. Dumbledore was going to choose for us but James and I decided that we would be the ones to do this. Harry can't go back to the magical world. For him as well as for everyone else, I don't want my son growing up and fighting his brother. I can't let it happen._

_Harry will be left at an orphanage called Unspoken Dreams in the British Isles._

Immediately I sped over to one of the shelves in the library, yanking down a book and throwing it open. I searched through the pages, 'Unspoken Dreams' repeating through my mind. The book was a list of workplaces, another one of mother's quirks as a muggleborn. She called it the 'Green Pages' for some reason. I found the orphanage and the exact island it was on.

An urgency to be at my brother's side flowed through my veins and I hurried out of the library. The rest of my thoughts faded away to the point that I needed to concentrate to remember how to get to my room. For a second I thought this was a little weird, but it was normal for a twin to want to reunite with their other half, right? Of course I wanted to see my brother and bring him home.

Running over to my bedroom, I noticed my parents were in the kitchen drinking with Uncle Remus. Thank goodness. When it was one of their drinking nights they wouldn't check up on me until the next morning.

Trying not to break anything in my hurry I found my broom. I thanked my father's wishes for me to be a future Quidditch star, as it gifted me with the latest broom on the market every year.

Rushing over to my desk I snatched a piece of parchment, Uncle Remus' latest project. I held the parchment and said "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," and smiled. It was an upgraded Marauder's Map. While my uncle still couldn't figure out how to change the password, he had been able to alter the map. This map was a Directions Map, one for if I ever got lost. All I had to do was tell the map an address or place and it would show me how to get there.

"Unspoken Dreams, Isle of Man, British Isles" I didn't quite understand why I had to say Isle of Man separately from British Isles as they were practically the same thing, but I didn't really care at the moment.

Opening my bedroom window I mounted my broom and took off. The map was positioned between my hands so I could see the arrow pointing in the direction I should go. How large the arrow was corresponded with the distance. I winced when the arrow was pretty big, but kept going.

'_It's taken me three years, brother, but I'm on my way. I'll bring you home.'_


	2. Already Dead

The wind was cold, so very cold. It was especially cold as I was trying to stay high enough in the sky that I wouldn't be easily seen. While I despise the cold I was grateful for it as it kept me awake. I must have been flying for hours. The sun had already set and the stars were beginning to reveal themselves in the sky. My sole source of optimism was the shrinking arrow on my map. I was getting closer to finding my brother. In the distance I could see the coastline fast approaching. I would have smiled had the cold not made my lips feel numb.

Soon enough I was flying over water, the arrow getting smaller and smaller. I almost fell off the broom when the arrow finally disappeared. Replacing the arrow on the map was a circle around the small picture of an island. Taking my eyes off the map I saw the island underneath me. I slowly spiraled down towards the island, cursing myself for not checking if there were other muggle buildings on the island other than the orphanage. Using the growing darkness as coverage I pulled my black cloak around me and flew down to the island.

The orphanage wasn't hard to find. It sat upon a hill that could be seen from all angles on the Eastern side of the island. Above the entrance were also the words "Unspoken Dreams", assisting me further. I had landed a bit of a distance away and had to walk through a small part of a forest to get to the orphanage. The darkness was amplified by the looming trees and scurrying creatures. Gathering my courage I reminded myself why I was here. I kept my eyes on the orphanage as I found my way to its door.

That probably wasn't the brightest idea as I slammed into the gate. I blamed the foliage camouflaging the gate and thrust it open. I also cursed myself for ending up trying to 'thrust open' the gate for a while. When I had finally pushed the rusted gate open far enough for me to get through, I wanted to run towards the orphanage's door, my excitement and fear joining together in a rush of adrenaline. The sight of the building stopped me in place.

I could hardly believe this orphanage was the same one I had seen my brother residing in. It was the exact opposite of what I saw through my brother's mind. The outside was beautiful and clean. There were flowers, pavement, and clean windows. Colors brightened its appearance even in the dark of night. Standing on my toes I reached up towards a glistening metal ring that hung from an equally glistening wolf's head and knocked on the door with it.

A chattering of young voices crowded behind the door and the noise only grew as the door swung open. A slightly older girl was surrounded by what seemed to be a dozen other children, all asking a million questions at once.

My question silenced them all.

"Do you know where Harry is?" hoping my mother let my brother keep his name when she abandoned him.

The eyes of all of the children widened, and did someone whimper? Some took a step back and a couple even ran back down the hall away from the door.

One of the smallest then looked up at the eldest girl and asked, "Isn't he dead?"

My heart clenched and my blood chilled right before another child cut in.

"Zombies can't die, Jeffrey, they're undead."

"But Harry was a vampire!" another protested.

"I thought he was a demon…"

A small girl in the back scoffed and added, "No, _Gorgons_ have snakes for pets. I read it in my book."

Finally the eldest girl spoke over the escalating argument and said, "Amanda, Gorgons have snakes for _hair_ not pets. We're also in England, not Greece. So Harry couldn't have been a Gorgon. He was obviously a fairy; you know one of those dark, evil ones. Anyway, he's gone so it doesn't matter anymore."

I waved my hands in front of the gathering of children until I thought enough of them were paying attention to me. "What do you mean, _gone_?"

The children all turned to the eldest girl and she rolled her eyes before answering, "The hall he was in caved in and we haven't seen him since. Mistress –she's the one that owns the place—thinks the hall is haunted so we never fixed it. Harry was already dead in the first place, though."

"Already dead?"

The girl's eyebrows furrowed, her mouth opening and closing for a while before she huffed and shook her head. "He just… He was just never really _alive_, you know?"

I walked away from the front door of the orphanage, the words of the children ringing in my ears. The younger children all nodded at the eldest girl's words, one of even them mentioning a "Sally-freak" who they thought Harry "conjured" from the Underworld and wondered why she didn't die when he did. Shaking my head I walked toward the back entrance of the building where the supposed 'haunted hallway' was located.

They all said Harry 'died' four years ago. That didn't make any sense. I 'saw' my brother three years ago and he was as healthy as I could see in that short amount of time. These kids must be mistaken.

The back of the orphanage looked as pristine as the front, only that the back door had a few cracks in it. My heart beat started pulsing straight to my ears and my fingers shook at my sides. Quickly clenching them into a fist I swiftly knocked on the door.

Crashes erupted from somewhere behind the door as the sound of running feet approached the back entrance. I tried not to wince when the door slowly opened with an ear splitting whine. I did wince, however, when I saw the poor creature that opened the door.

A little girl opened the door, standing on a rickety stool to get to the door handle. The poor thing only had one eye, the other hole only half-covered by a makeshift patch made out of a torn sock. She wobbled on the stool, trying to greet me. "Um… hello, sir… I, uh… Oh!"

Suddenly she fell off the stool and I thanked my father for giving me quick enough reflexes to reach out and catch her. She was so light and skinny I felt like crying. I had seen other children who looked like her but they had been living on the street. If it was even possible she looked worse.

"Oh, plis puh m'down, sir! Your clothin'…" As she struggled to get out an apology my heart was torn.

I placed her on her feet. "It's perfectly alright, little lady," I wondered why I was suddenly talking politely, probably the 'sir' even though I'm only nine, "my clothing is fine. I was wondering…"

She looked up, "Oh, what's it you be wantin' sir?"

A smile lit upon my face at her eagerness to help me. "I was wondering if you knew someone by the name of Harry…?"

Recognition flashed through her eye along with a tinge of nervousness and fear, yet a smile lit up her face. Interesting… "Oh, you want tuh talks tuh _Harry_…" She looked behind herself, as if checking if anyone was there, "You be happy you be talkin' to _me,_ sir, none of them others would be helpin' you out." Soon after she started walking away down a hall, constantly checking if anyone was around, "Are you comin' or not, sir?"

I quickly followed her, the excitement and fear returning tenfold. I really wanted to meet my brother face to face, but I was starting to wonder just what kind of person he was after growing up in a place like this. The inside of the 'haunted hallway' was practically the opposite as the outside. Dirt and grime covered the floor and the walls, multiple holes along the floor and in the walls. Was that a rat I just saw run over there? Best not to think about it or I might lose my lunch.

That reminded me that I had skipped dinner… I would usually get myself a late night snack at home but I wouldn't be able to do that now.

After some time we started climbing over debris, a swirling breeze tugging at my hair as we passed by a crumbled wall and passed under holes in the ceiling. I could see why the others thought the place was haunted; it looked like a giant attacked the building.

I wanted to ask the girl, probably 'Sally', why she knew my brother was alive and didn't tell the others, but she was far ahead of me. My throat tightened and somehow speaking above a whisper frightened me. I thought about the run-down room I saw my brother in and attempted to find some reason why he would live as a dead person in the midst of ruins for so long. We passed through the worst of the collapsed hallway and could walk on solid ground again.

My train of thought was crashed off course as I bumped into the little girl I was following. Thankfully I hadn't been walking fast enough to knock her down or I'd have felt absolutely horrible. The girl was standing in front of a door, one of the few that were actually still intact. She raised her tiny hand and knocked.

"Who is it?" Hearing my brother's voice caused my spirits to soar. This was the place. This was it.

Before the little girl said anything, I cut in. "I'm here, brother."

The door flew open, and I was finally standing in front of my twin. I looked at his face, seeing the red eye as it clashed with his green eye, both widening at the sight of my presence. I couldn't contain myself any longer and threw my arms around him. Something inside me brightened and I felt complete. All of my previous years felt so empty now that my brother was in my arms. I didn't notice the look my brother gave the little girl that caused her to hurry away.

"It took me three years, brother," I whispered, long withheld tears flowing out of my eyes, "three years, but I've finally found you." Slowly, gradually, my twin hugged me back. I felt the lone tear that escaped fall onto my cheek. We stood there, just holding on to each other as we let the moment sink into our minds. If my brother's hands only barely touched me and his arms didn't quite embrace me, I didn't care. It made sense that he would be cautious around me, right?

I let go of my brother, stepping back to give him space. "I'm sorry," I said, wiping my tears away, "I really shouldn't have hugged you so suddenly like that…" Gosh, I felt ridiculous crying in front of my brother. Even if we were born together something about my twin made him seem older.

He shook his head. "No, it's okay. I…" he paused, seeming to think for a moment, "That was the first time I've ever been hugged…" He looked away from me, as if ashamed by his statement. In the corner of my sight I saw his hands clenched into fists but they were quickly hidden behind his back.

I think I actually started to truly hate someone in that moment. This 'Dumbledore' would pay for causing my brother to end up this way. I always felt like Mother could be talked into doing anything using the right words (Father did it all the time), and 'Dumbledore' was the one who apparently told her to abandon my brother.

When he finally looked at me again, I remembered why I was there. "I'm here to take you away, brother."

Light flashed through his eyes before it quickly disappeared. "Really?" There was an even tone to the word and it took a moment for me to realize it was a question.

I nodded, "I promised, didn't I?" My brother answered with a smile, a truer, broader smile than I hoped he would give me. I felt my heart swell with happiness. The awkward shifting of his lips made it seem like smiling wasn't something he did often. "Do you have anything you want to keep here?" My heart clenched asking that question, as I doubted there was much he cherished here.

Surprisingly, my brother dashed back into his room for a moment before returning. Wrapped around his arm was a thin blue snake. I had never seen a _blue_ snake before. Actually, I don't think I had _ever_ seen a real live snake before. I did remember the other children talking about Harry having a pet snake, and I was surprised it slipped my mind.

"_What's going on?_"

Oh, my, gosh. Did I just hear the snake _talk?_

"_We're leaving this place, Saphyr."_

"_Oh my gosh you can speak to snakes!"_ My hand flew to my mouth as I noticed both my twin and the snake turn to me in surprise. "_I, uh, guess I can too." _I smiled a nervous smile.

Thankfully my brother just chuckled and held out his arm with the snake. "I'm guessing you've never met a snake before?"

I watched attentively as Saphyr slithered over to my arm. "Mother and father said they're all evil." My attention was solely focused on the beautiful creature on my arm so I didn't notice my brother's reaction until I heard it.

"Mother… and father…?"

I looked up quickly, seeing darkness flash within my brother's eyes. When his eyes met mine I couldn't hold his gaze and looked away. "They lied to me," I spat out, my voice shaking and my hands coming up and crossing my arms, "I knew I had a brother but they _lied_ to me, said I was an only child. I couldn't _believe_ they would lie about something like this!" My hands tightened around my arms and I wanted to throw something, to kick something, to _destroy_ something like the hallway behind me. Suddenly, there was a crash and we both jumped and turned to see a pile of debris crumble to the ground. It was a weird coincidence but it cut through the tension crawling under my skin.

Looking back at my brother I could see a bit of surprise and amusement in his expression. I sighed, "I… sort of… came to get you without telling them…"

Looking over at my brother I judged his reaction. He wasn't looking at me, his eyes staring at the ground. Even as his hair covered his face I could see the glowing red of his eye. I could see his chest rise as he took in a deep breath. His eyes lifted to meet mine. "Let's go," and with that simple phrase all of my feelings shifted to happiness.

I nodded happily, taking my brother's hand. Saphyr traveled back to my twin and I shivered slightly at the feeling. "Oh, I almost forgot! I'm Aster," I smiled at him sheepishly.

"Harry. Though I believe you were already aware of that."

I looked around me and nodded over at the door behind my brother. "Can you just leave like this?" I asked, not wanting him to get in trouble.

His eyes clouded over with anger. "No one will miss me here," and with that he started walking away from what used to be his room. My thoughts turned to Sally and I wanted to ask about her, but Harry walked too fast and my thoughts jumbled while focusing on what was going on.

Still holding his hand, I almost stumbled as I tried to keep up with his determined pace. It baffled me as we reached the back entrance and walked around to the front not having met anyone along the way. I guess everyone really did think the hallway was haunted. Shrugging off the thought I turned and found my brother had disappeared. Worry clenched my heart. I looked all around the front of the orphanage, stepping outside into the cold air. "Harry…?"

"I'm right here Aster," whirling around I found my brother standing right behind me. I must not have been paying attention. I smiled at him and sped off to where I left my broom. Once we got to it my twin gave me a weird look and asked, "Is that what we're using to get away?"

"Uh, we _could,_ but I have a faster way," I ignored the second weird look he gave me and took out a pendant from beneath my shirt. "Here, put this chain around your neck," I held out the pendant, willing the chain to lengthen. It was an invention of mother's, an emergency portkey which had a chain similar to the one a Time Turner would have. Thankfully my twin just accepted everything, not bombarding me with questions… yet. I could just tell he wanted to ask so many questions but withheld himself. Holding the pendant with my left hand, my twin grabbed the pendant with his right hand.

Suddenly, a scream ripped through the air. The orphanage behind us had burst into flame. "Harry-"

"Let's go, Aster,"

"But Sally-"

"She's safe. Let's go."

Reluctantly I tore my eyes away from the orphanage. I knew that I should probably feel bad, as there were people probably dying in the burning building, but something in Harry's eyes kept me from defying him. As I whispered the trigger word our heads touched each other at the temple.

We disappeared from Unspoken Dreams in a flash of light and a flash of pain.

I really don't know what happened, as it was over just as soon as it had begun. 'Wow, that hurt,' I thought, seeing my room around us.

'Yes, it hurt substantially. May you please explain what happened just now?'

I turned to my brother, surprised, "Please tell me you said that aloud?"

"You didn't?" Our eyes widened as we realized what happened. Harry opened his mouth to talk, but a hard knock was heard on my door.

Thanking whatever powers were out there, I quickly used our new gift. 'Hide somewhere, quick! I need to explain everything to our parents real quick'

I could sense my brother's reaction. 'You failed to plan for this? You expected to just waltz here with me?' he demanded.

'Just hide!'

With that, he was gone. Looking around, I was impressed with my brother's ability to hide himself. A whispered 'Thank you' flashed through my mind and I smiled.

The smile fell as mother's voice rang through the door, "Aster Evan Potter! You better open this door right this _instant_!"

"_She's scary…_" I stifled my laughter at Saphyr's statement as I fearfully approached my door. For a moment I let myself ponder how I could have heard the snake but rationalized that snakes probably didn't speak like human's did so I probably didn't have to see or 'hear' the snake to 'listen' to it.

I unlocked the door and turned the knob, hesitant to pull it open. Taking a deep breath, I pulled open the door.

Standing in all her fiery glory was my mother, Lily Evans-Potter. "Where in the world have you been, young man?" She demanded.

"Nowhere…"

'You couldn't even come up with a suitable story?'

'Shh!'

"Don't you dare lie to me, Aster, or else. I can tell you've been flying. Where did you go at this time of night?"

I really did not like lying to my parents… Remembering Harry, I used my thoughts of him to fuel me on, "I was just flying around, mother."

She put her hands on her hips, "You can't have been flying 'around' if you had to use your portkey to get back. I told you to stop lying to me."

"Then why won't _you _stop lying to _me_?" I froze, stopping myself before I said anything else.

Mother was shocked, to say the least. "Wha- what are you talking about…?"

For some reason I just couldn't stay silent. I wondered where all of this courage came from all of a sudden. "I _know_, mother, I know! You've been lying to me all this time…" I couldn't stop a tear from falling.

"I don't understand, honey–"

"Don't give me that 'honey' nonsense! Trying to act like a caring mother…"

Now it was my mother who was crying, "Please, talk to me! I don't understand…"

I looked into her eyes, using sheer force of will to shield me from her water-filled eyes, "What kind of a mother _lies_ to her child? What kind of a mother _abandons _her child?" Her eyes widened, she choked on air, and I could see the realization dawn on my mother and it kept the words flowing from my mouth. "Yes, I know, I've known for a long time. How, how in the _world_ could you not tell me about _Harry_?" Each word had built in volume before I shouted out the last.

Sometime during my tirade my father and Uncle Remus arrived at my bedroom door. All three were shocked, mouths gaping, hands starting to shake. I looked away, unable to face them.

My uncle was the first to recover, "How did you–"

"Mother's letters."

Mother's eyes widened further. It seemed impossible given how wide they were before.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Why? Why did you lie to me?" I felt like I was about to break down. I was torn between falling apart and throwing a tantrum as I wobbled on my feet. Reaching out I grasped one of my bed posts, _willing_ the tears to stay in my eyes.

'Shh…' my brother's soothing tone calmed me down. I had almost forgotten he was here. I felt like I should be the one comforting _him_, having heard proof that our mother and father had tried to pretend as if he didn't exist. If I heard something like that I wouldn't have been able to comfort someone else. There was a considerable amount of doubt as to whether I would have wanted to be in contact with anyone at that point.

"How did you know to look for him in the first place?" My father's sudden question shook me out of my thoughts.

"My memory; I'm sure mother told you all about it. You still haven't answered me. Why did you act like he never existed?" I would have never thought my parents would be this type of people: the type of people who would abandon their child at someone else's say-so.

Father took a shuddering breath, "It was for both of your own good."

"What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean?" The sudden yell startled me. Harry had somehow materialized at my side, automatically grasping my hand in a tight grip. Through our hands I could feel Harry shaking, felt the clammy moisture gathering at our palms.

'Harry…?'

'I'm sorry, Aster, but I just couldn't restrain myself.'

"…Harry?" Mother's eyes were even wider and I worried they would fall out of her head. Her hand was stretched out, reaching towards Harry.

"Don't touch him," I spat, stepping forward slightly and bringing Harry away.

Mother flinched, and father was quick to come to her defense. "How dare you-"

I stepped further in front of Harry. "How dare what, father?"

"Aster, calm down and think about what you're doing." That was Uncle Remus, always trying to be the peace maker.

I shook my head. "No, Uncle Remus, it's you three who should think about what you're doing."

A flash of anger flew across father's face and he drew his wand.

In all of a moment Harry grabbed me just before a spell collided with us. I couldn't tell who it was aimed for, but I knew it was a spell that was supposed to stop you from moving. Father used it on bad people all the time. Does that mean he thinks I'm a bad person now…?

'They are the bad ones, Aster, or do you agree with what they have done?'

I turned to Harry and shook my head, 'No, I can't agree with them abandoning you like that.' Looking around, I noticed we were on the roof of my house. "How did we get here?"

My twin simply quirked the edge of his lips, I think Father calls it a 'smirk'.

"Stupefy!" A red beam of light shot out and struck Harry. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he started to fall, eyes wide with shock before closing. I caught Harry before he could tumble off the roof, realizing just how light he was. Earlier his confident demeanor had hidden his thin form and bony limbs. As his head leaned against me I could see some scars underneath his shirt. What had he suffered through at that orphanage?

"Aster!" my parents were outside of the house. Briefly I wondered where Uncle Remus was. "Get down from there!"

I clutched my twin closer to me, "No! What did you do to Harry?" Tears threatened to fall from my eyes again. All of the recent events were making me feel worn out and my hands were shaking as I tried to keep hold of my brother.

'Harry? Harry, please answer me!'

There was no reply.

I saw a flash of light and felt my body lift into the air. Frantically I held onto my brother. Looking down I saw a stream of light connecting us to our mother's wand. She lowered us down onto the ground, careful not to drop us. Clenching my eyes shut I tried not to cry. My brother had to be okay, he had to be. I couldn't lose him so soon after getting him back.

'Harry, are you there? Please, Harry!'

'Stop shouting, Aster!'

I felt calm wash over me as I heard my brother's reply. 'You're still here!'

'It seems that 'here' is in the realm of your mind as of this moment. I believe if this is similar to your last visit I must only be unconscious.'

Wasn't my brother so cool? He was able to stay so calm while I was shaking from my fear and nervousness. This was my brother, my twin, my other half. He had suffered so much while I was coddled to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore. _I_ should have been the one to suffer; _he_ was the one the evil man attacked, so he was the _real_ Boy-Who-Lived after all. I wouldn't let _anyone_ take him away from me again. No one.

Hands grabbed at my shoulders. "Aster," wow, I had never heard Father's voice quiver like that before, "let go of him."

My head snapped up, my eyes opened and I glared at my father. "Never," I watched as my father stepped back in surprise. In the reflection of his glasses I could see my face twisted with a scowl across my lips, my left eye golden and the right a blazing red. Deep within me I could feel my brother's surprise as well. It was as if no one had ever stood up for him this way before. Despair flooded me as I realized that he probably hadn't had anyone to stand up for him before. In contrast, so many people would throw themselves at my feet for something I didn't even do.

Something hit me from behind and my world went black.

'Aster, Aster…! Wake up!'

Groggily I opened my eyes and sat up. My brother was kneeling next to me. 'Harry!' I reached out and hugged him. My mismatched eyes searched his form, 'Where's Saphyr?'

Harry stood up, pulling me to my feet beside him. 'Look around you, Aster,' there was nothing but white nothing-ness, 'we're in our minds right now.'

'That's cool!' The thought to question that conclusion never crossed my mind.

My twin chuckled in response, 'Of course you would think so, even though this means we're both unconscious. Our bodies could be discarded in some unknown forest and we would never know until we woke up.'

'Why do you talk like an adult; all gloomy and logical?'

'It helped me survive.' Looking into Harry's eyes I could see a darkness there that I knew all too well.

_I walked into the living room, knowing I'd find my mother sitting in her favorite chair by the window. She sat there every time Father left to fight bad people, watching, waiting for him to return home. There was a book in her hands, though I knew she never read it as the pages were never turned. Her eyes roamed the street outside as they searched for my father. I knew something was different this time when I saw her hands shaking, clutching the book tightly. Curious, I shook her arm. 'Mommy,' she turned to me, startled away from the window, 'When's Father coming home?'_

'_Soon, honey, soon,' she looked as if she was trying to convince herself more than trying to convince me, 'your father is fighting some really _really_ bad people today, so he has to work extra hard before coming home, okay?'_

_I nodded and jumped into my mother's lap to look out the window with her. She placed her book on a nearby table, combing my hair with her hands as she waited. Watching the street, I saw something move. In the dark of night a lone street light lit the area in front of my home. Soon a figure had walked into the light, a hat obscuring the person's face. I, as the foolish little seven year-old I was at the time, yelled out "Father!" and ran out the door. I realized too late that the person was _not_ my father when it grabbed me by the neck and lifted me in the air._

"_I've done it! I've caught Aster Potter!" The thing cried out, its hat flying off its head as it cackled madly. Fangs were glistening from inside its mouth and caused fear to envelope me as I tried to breathe. "They say you're the _Chosen One_, the Epitome of Light! Maybe… maybe if I drink your blood I'll be free!" I couldn't help but look into the eyes of the monster that was trying to murder me. Behind that manic gleam I saw darkness, a sadness filled with anger and desperation. "I didn't want to be a monster!" It yelled hoarsely, shaking me in the air._

"_Help me… father!" I choked out of my throbbing throat. Memories flashed through my mind of my mother and father, my Uncle Remus… the brother I promised to save just last year and had all but forgotten. "I'm… sorry." A tear fell from my eye as I vowed that if I survived I would do everything I could to find my brother. I had to keep my promise, at least before I died._

"_Sectumsempra!" Red splashed across my vision as I watched, horrified, as the monster was sliced into pieces. The now limp hand dropped me to the ground. I looked on in pain as the body of my attacker faded into dust, leaving a splattered pool of blood in its place. My father stood at the other side of the street with his wand raised and pointing at where the monster once stood. A moment passed before he remembered me, running quickly to my side._

'… wow, that was quite graphic,'

I jumped slightly as I realized I was still with Harry in our mind. 'You… you saw that?'

My brother nodded, 'I remembered you saying you had a photographic memory, but I never thought it would be that detailed,' he looked at me with a new look in his eyes. It made me think that he thought I hadn't suffered at all in my life and only just discovered I had been through some rough times as well. It was then that I wondered if I would be able to see his memories as clearly as I saw mine. Our minds were connected, I could tell, and I reached out through that connection. I wanted to know what happened to my brother at that orphanage. I wanted to know just how much he had suffered at the hands of a mistake. I _needed_ to know.

Harry's eyes widened as he realized what I was trying to do. 'No Aster, don't-!'

Pain, pure pain filled my mind.


	3. A Dark, Dangerous Person

Memories flooded my consciousness full of screams and cries, blood and tears. A few times I glimpsed Saphyr slithering along dead grass. Pain coursed through me as I experienced starvation, beatings, pranks, and more. Yells pounded from between my ears, "Freak! Abnormal _creature_! Hell spawn!" Images of limbs and objects speeding towards me made my world spin as it throbbed in pain. I saw blood, so much blood, as my vision clouded over with tears. Fear, panic, and despair coursed through every memory. The shrill laughter of children soon invaded my mind accompanied with scenes of broken toys, torn books, and shredded clothing. "Red eye, red eye, looks like a bad guy… Green eye, green eye, looks like a mean guy… Hit him once, hit him twice, kick three times and end his life…" the cruel rhyme played over and over again in sickeningly sweet voices. The memories sped by faster and faster before they became a blur of red and black all around me.

Voices whispered, chattered, and yelled around me. "He's a zombie, got to be!"

"I swear he was dropped off by the devil. He must be a demon…"

"He looks so _dead_. Why's he still here?"

"Should we just bury him, then?"

Darkness surrounded me and I felt like all the air left my lungs. I watched as small hands scratched and grabbed above me and saw dirt moving away. The blue sky never looked so bright before. Was my brother actually _buried alive_ before?

A hand was outstretched before me. Crashes and loud claps of sound filled the air and walls collapsed around me. I recognized it as the 'haunted hallway' and watched as it became the ruin of debris I saw earlier.

"_Why in the world would I be in this god forsaken orphanage if I had a family?_" The yell tore through the pain, suddenly bringing me back to that day three years ago.

It felt odd hearing my voice through someone else's ears, "_I'll prove it to you. I'll find you, brother, and take you away from this place, I swear it!_" Suddenly, deep behind all of the pain and suffering, I felt something pulse through me.

Hope filled my brother, something he had thrown away a long time ago.

In an instant it all disappeared and I found myself back in the realm of our mind. At some point I had curled into a ball with my head in my hands. As I drew my warm soaking hands away I almost thought they were covered with blood but saw they were only wet with tears. Looking up I realized I was lying in my brother's arms with my head against his chest. Tears flowed once again from my eyes as I thought of all he had gone through. "Harry…" The name was garbled as I hiccupped, "I'm so sorry…" My hiccups turned into sobs as I wrapped my arms around my twin. It was all so horrible and unfair.

"_Shh_…" the Parseltongue was soothing to my ears, helping my sobs subside. My sobs threatened to return when I remembered Mother and Father telling me about how 'dark' and 'evil' the snake language was. Obviously they were wrong. They were wrong about everything; snakes, Parseltongue, me being the Boy-Who-Lived… They were completely wrong about Harry. I didn't know what to believe anymore. If they could be so wrong about their own child, how could I know if they were right about anything else they told me? I felt confusion start to overwhelm my mind.

'It's okay now Aster, it's okay,'

I looked at my brother in disbelief. 'It's not okay! Everything that happened-'

'Is in the past.' Before I could say, (or think, I guess), anything in reply, I felt everything around us fade away.

"I won't let _him_ control my life anymore!"

Mother's yell reminded me that I had been unconscious, and had just woken up. Opening my eyes I almost jumped to see Saphyr lying on my chest with its head resting on my chin. I still didn't know if it was a boy or girl yet.

'_Saphyr is a female snake.'_ Worry I hadn't realized I was feeling washed away at hearing my brother's voice. It was then that I noticed I was gripping his hand tightly and quickly let go. We were in the guest bedroom that was right next to the living room. Thinking to myself, I supposed that we had been brought here because my bed wouldn't have fit the both of us. I was glad they hadn't tried to separate us. I was also glad we were in this room because all of the decorations were generic and impersonal. There weren't any family photos or other such memorabilia to upset my brother.

A crash knocked me out of my thoughts as Mother yelled again. "I'm telling you, Remus, I've had _enough_!" She must have been really upset to lose control like that. A few years ago Mother had accidentally broken her wand and had to get a new one. The new one worked fine but tended to cause a bit of damage when Mother got too emotional. I had only seen her get that upset only once before in my life, and that was when I had fallen off my broom and gotten knocked unconscious. I made sure never to be that reckless again, even if I was tempted to knock myself out just to see Harry again.

Uncle Remus' reply must've been too quiet because I only heard Mother's next reply. "I sacrificed _everything _for James… Remus, I gave up everything! Shouldn't I get something back in return?" She paused, most likely listening to my uncle say something in Father's defense. "I know Dumbledore became a father figure for him after his parents died, but this is my son we're talking about! My child, Remus, my _child_…" her voice cracked, "I abandoned Harry once and I'm not doing it again. I'm sick and tired of all of these dumb prejudices taking everyone I care about away from me! Look at what it's done! My two childhood friends don't want anything to do with me, and one of them even became a Death Eater because of me! Don't even try to tell me it's not my fault. You witnessed firsthand what James did to Severus and what it did to him to discover I had chosen James over our friendship."

"You at least can't blame yourself for Sirius, Lily." Uncle Remus had raised his voice in a pleading tone, apparently having given up trying to defend Father.

Mother gave a heartless laugh, "How can I not? You know Sirius was, and still is, Harry's godfather," that was a shock, "and how he loved the child as if Harry was his actual son. You were even there when he stormed into this house after finding out we were going to abandon Harry. It killed him when he realized that burning the letter in his anger also burned away his only clue as to where we were sending Harry. Sirius was my only childhood friend left after Severus had forsaken me and I smacked him in the face for it. Do you remember what he told me, Remus? He said he regretted introducing me to James and telling me to get into Gryffindor. He said I was the worst breed of cowardly lion he had ever met. I chose James over Severus, over Sirius, and then over Harry. I won't make the same mistake again. I'm not choosing James anymore."

Silence met her declaration and I heard Mother approach the guest bedroom. As she opened the door I could see Uncle Remus sitting on the couch behind her, hunched over in defeat and despair. Silently Mother sat down on the bed and gathered us into a hug. She held on to us tightly, as if we would disappear if she let go. Her shoulders shook as tears fell from her eyes. Harry and I sat there in her arms, both thinking about what we had heard.

I moved my arm to rub her back, trying to let her know that I was happy she wasn't going to abandon Harry again. My throat refused to listen to me, and I could only swallow thickly as I held back my tears. With her head between us I couldn't see what Harry was doing but I hoped he wasn't too uncomfortable.

After a while Mother let us go, using her wand to conjure up a bag. Items zoomed through the bedroom door to land in the bag, things like clothing and books. Mother kept her back to us, though I could see her wiping her eyes every now and then.

"Where are we going, Mother?" Both Mother and I looked over at Harry in surprise. This was the first time I had heard him claim one of our parents as his own. He was smiling softly at our mother but I could see the sadness in his eyes. Harry must have been gladdened to know Mother hadn't completely abandoned him; however losing Father in the process was horrible.

There was still something cold in his gaze, a way his hands clutched the blanket and his knuckles whitened from the force of his grip… I shook my head, reminding myself that Harry was new to all this and was probably still scared. I didn't know where Father was and he might suddenly show up and attack my brother again. With a firm nod I promised myself I wouldn't let Harry get hurt.

Mother, having recovered from her shock, tried to smile back at Harry. It was more of half of a frown as I saw tears of joy mingle with her tears of despair. "We're going away, Harry." She finished packing and came to hug us again. "We're going to see your godfather."

A squeezing sensation grasped us and I noticed my brother freeze, his eyes widening. It was then I remembered he never went through Apparition and was understandably panicked.

Suddenly cold air blew across my face and I opened my eyes, not remembering when I closed them. We arrived in a Muggle neighborhood, one I recognized by the little park nearby. Mother had shown me pictures of it when she told me about where she grew up. Why were we here? If I remembered correctly, which I'm quite sure I did, Uncle Sirius lived in a Wizarding neighborhood far away from Mother's home town. There was a little pathway near us and I could see a house at the end.

Harry was at my side still holding my hand. Mother stood up and I wished I would grow up soon so I wouldn't have to feel so small in front of her all the time. She tapped her wand on both Harry's and my head and I shivered as it felt like water had just been poured on top of me. "No one should be able to see you now," she explained, "so try to make as little noise as possible okay?" Without waiting for a reply she continued, "Stay right behind me until we get to the house. When the door opens I'll look left and right and that's when you'll sneak in the door, okay?" My brother and I answered affirmatively, though I wondered why we would have to sneak into the house if we were going to see Uncle Sirius like Mother had told us.

'Will we get attacked out here?' my brother's thoughts cut through my mind and he squeezed my hand.

'I don't think so…' I replied, 'Only Muggles, non-magic people, live here so I don't _think_ anyone would attack us unless Father followed us–'

Harry interrupted, 'Let's get going then.'

Dutifully we followed her orders, walking right behind her down the path until we reached the house. It was a nice looking house, not too big and not too small. Vines had started to grow along the walls and there were some pretty flowers in pots on the porch. Off to the side I saw a mini house made of glass with more plants inside. There was a wide range of colors amongst all of the plants inside the mini house and around the main one. Something about them, however, made me feel like it wouldn't be a good idea to touch them.

Harry tugged on my hand, drawing my attention back to Mother. Sometime during my thought-wandering we reached the door of the house. I could see our mother's hand poised to knock, wondering what was causing her to hesitate. She took a deep breath and knocked.

After what seemed like forever, a voice called out, "Who's there?"

I could just feel Mother's nerves jump to extraordinary levels. Her stature straightened and she locked her knees for a moment and then she relaxed them slightly. Taking another deep breath she answered, "It's me." I wondered how anyone would know who you were if you just said 'it's me'.

Contrary to my thoughts the door swung open, revealing a tall pale man with longish black hair and equally black eyes. He looked liked one of the guys from a magazine. His dark green shirt and black pants were spotless without a single fold out of place. Even though he was just standing in the doorway it looked like a sight I was privileged to see. "Lily…? Why–" The man looked at my mom's face and stopped himself. "Come in."

As if checking to see if anyone was around, Mother looked side to side. Remembering our cue, Harry dragged me through the open door right before Mother walked in. Looking up at Mother, I noticed her cheeks had flushed in embarrassment. I followed her gaze and found Uncle Sirius standing in the middle of the room with a surprised look on his face. He looked as if he had just sprung up from the chair behind him. Uncle Sirius' hair was in disarray and he was also shirtless with his pants unzipped. Looking back at the other man I saw him smirk at Uncle Sirius for just a moment before turning back to Mother. Adults were weird.

Within my mind I heard Harry laughing at me and I shot him a quick glare.

Uncle Sirius ran off through a door, most likely to get some clothes on. The other man waved Mother to the couch next to Uncle Sirius' chair and sat down across from her on another chair. Harry and I quietly moved to sit in front of the couch on the floor, making sure we didn't bump into anything. A warm fire crackled in the fire place behind the man's chair adding another dimension to his already 'tall, dark, and handsome' look I heard Mother's friends fuss about all the time. "Lily," the deep voice caused Mother to jump slightly, her blush disappearing and her lips straightening into a thin line, "why are you here?"

Mother's stiff form made me want to run outside and go flying. "I…" her hands fidgeted in her lap, "I left him, Severus." Ah, so this was the famed Severus Snape. Father forbade Uncle Remus to mention him since it made Mother cry. Severus Snape only lifted an eyebrow in reply and Mother was about to speak when someone started pounding on the door.

There was no need to ask who it was as a resounding "Snape!" was yelled through the door. Father was quite idiotic sometimes.

A scowl had formed on Uncle Severus' face.

'So he's 'Uncle' Severus now?'

'Why not? He must be awesome if Father hates him.'

'Your logic is amusing though I believe I will agree for now.'

While Harry and I were communicating Uncle Severus had walked over to the door. "What do you want, Potter?" I don't think I had ever heard my last name spoken in such a hateful way before.

"Open the door, Snivellus! I know Lily's in there!" Mother froze in her seat and stared at the closed door.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Potter. I haven't had anything to do with her since seventh year." I could just feel the hatred aimed at the door. My opinion of Uncle Severus rose as he so readily protected Mother even though he still didn't know what was going on.

Ever the intelligent one, Father ignored Uncle Severus. "Lily!" he called out, still pounding on the door, "Please come out! I don't want to abandon Harry again either, but you know he's too dangerous! Please, do it for Aster!"

Those last words caused something to snap within Mother. A fire was blazing in her green eyes as she got up from the couch and strode towards the door. Uncle Severus silently stepped out of the way as Mother threw the door open with a force I hadn't known she had. Harry suddenly grasped my arm and it looked like a blazing blue fire had appeared around our mother.

'Harry, what is this?'

'I think that's Mother's spirit. This is the first time I've seen something like this and I wasn't entirely certain I could make you see it too.'

Through the doorway I could see that Father had been blasted backwards by the force of the door opening. He was sprawled on the pathway looking up at Mother with wide eyes. "Get away from me," she spat out, sparks flying out of her wand with the force of her words.

"Lily…?"

Mother knuckles turned white as she gripped her wand, "Go _away_!" A tendril of the blue flames flared and one of the nearby pots shattered. Fortunately it was empty before meeting its abrupt end. "Don't you _dare_ talk about what's good for either of _my_ sons, Potter," a shiver ran down my spine as her tone sounded the same as when Uncle Severus had spoken the name, "I've had enough of you!" The flames around Mother gathered together and struck the ground near Father, blasting apart the pathway. With a frightened shriek Father disappeared with a 'crack'.

Slowly Harry and I saw the blue flames retreat into Mother's body. She staggered for a moment before falling. Simultaneous cries of "Lily!" and "Mother!" rang through the air as Uncle Severus leapt out the door to catch her. When Harry and I tried to follow a hand grabbed each of us and lifted us into the air.

Uncle Severus carried Mother back into the house as Uncle Sirius plopped us down onto his chair. Uncle Sirius tapped us with his wand and we felt the wet feeling wash over us again. I could tell he made it so we could be seen again. Looking up at our uncle we saw the same look of surprise we had been seeing for the past several hours.

"Um… Hi?" Harry smacked me on the arm. This was the first time Harry had ever hit me before, but I couldn't help but think of the action as touching rather than insulting. I doubted my brother had ever had anyone to mess around with before and my terms of normalcy were bound to be different than his. If things seemed entertaining or normal to me it must be overwhelmingly joyful for my twin. I also doubted that he'd ever show it, though. That's okay. I know Harry cares about me. Why else would he care about my conduct in front of our Uncles?

I watched as Uncle Severus sighed, running a hand through his hair. As his sleeved dropped down a few inches I glimpsed a dark colored tattoo on his wrist. My eyes immediately formed a frosty glare. Both uncles noticed instantly, Uncle Sirius looking confused and Uncle Severus only raising an eyebrow and narrowing his eyes back at me. Sensing my brother's questioning thoughts I answered, 'He's a Death Eater, Harry! Death Eaters are dark, dangerous people!' I remembered Mother's conversation with Uncle Remus about how one of her friends became a Death Eater because of her and realized she was talking about Uncle Severus.

'Aster!' The sudden reproachful yell within my mind caused me to snap my head away from glaring at Uncle Severus and to stare at Harry. In a calm, almost disciplinary tone Harry asked, 'Aster, who told you Death Eaters were dark, dangerous people?'

A sudden cold feeling washed over me. I looked down as I answered meekly, 'Father…'

'And who said _I _was a dark, dangerous person?' Harry didn't seem mad at all, but I still felt bad.

A pout had settled on my face as I looked away from my twin, 'Father…'

'_Am_ I a dark, dangerous person?'

My head snapped up in surprise. I think my neck is going to be _really_ sore tomorrow. 'No, of course not! Never! I _know_ you're not dangerous Harry! You aren't! I-'

Harry threw a sharp look that silenced me. 'Then do you think Death Eaters are dark, dangerous people?'

'No…' I wanted to protest that Death Eaters killed people but then I remembered seeing Father kill someone before. Why were Death Eaters bad people for killing people yet Father a good person for killing people too? Mother always used to say Father was killing the bad people for killing the good people, but then weren't the bad people killing the good people for killing the bad people? My head started hurting…

'Aster, what do you say now?'

'Hmm? Oh!' Throwing away my confusing thoughts to think about later, I turned back to Uncle Severus. He still had his eyebrow raised at me but his eyes weren't narrowed anymore. Guilt flushed through me. "I'm sorry for glaring at you, Uncle Severus…" Glancing over at Harry I saw him smile softly at me and I grinned back. I almost missed Uncle Severus' eyes widen at hearing 'Uncle'.

"Aster?" Uncle Severus was looking at me intently, as if looking right inside me. Uneasiness flooded me as I thought of what to say. Yes, Aster was my name but it sounded like Uncle Severus was asking me a question… I didn't get it!

'He's asking multiple questions; why are you here, who am I, am I really Harry, what's wrong with my eye, why did Mother bring us here, what happened with Potter, what did he mean by me being dangerous, what did he mean by abandoning me for you, what did Mother mean when she said she left 'him', how are we communicating without talking, and a few other questions I cannot guess with a high level of certainty.'

I stared at my brother incredulously, "You got all that from my name?"

Harry stared back at me, "Aster, answer him,"

Quickly I ran through all of the questions Harry had just told me, thoroughly confused and unsure. Throwing away my concerns I turned to our uncles and smiled brightly at them. "I found Harry!"

'sigh,'


	4. La La Land

_He was just never really _alive_, you know?_

Harry heard Evelyn's voice run across Aster's mind when they first met at the orphanage and it caused him to clench his fists and want to hunt her down that instant. The only reason he refrained from sending Saphyr after her was the fact that he knew she and the others would be punished in due time. His brother shouldn't hear such negative statements about him. It could have deterred Aster from seeking him out.

But it didn't, and that confused Harry.

Despite hearing accusations that Harry was a zombie, a vampire, a dark fairy out of all creatures… Aster still searched for him and found him. Aster didn't even question him about burning the orphanage, though his twin did ask after Sally. Harry actually regretted leaving her behind, but it was necessary. He hadn't lied; she was safe, but Aster didn't need to know the details.

In hindsight, Harry knew Evelyn's words were truth. He _didn't_ feel alive growing up in that orphanage. Everything bored him. The mistress bored him, the children bored him, the building bored him… the island itself bored him. When all the other children found joy in kicking a ball around Harry thought it pointless and an unnecessary waste of energy. When all the other children laughed over comic books, he could not comprehend what they found so hilarious. There was no use to looking at fantastical pictures or reading lines of "happily ever after".

It was all so boring.

Finding Saphyr was a curse and a blessing.

Harry discovered a unique ability to speak to snakes, while also discovering the extent of cruelty the other children could inflict on him. His acquiring of a 'familiar' in their eyes somehow solidified their beliefs that he was some dark creature meant for extermination.

Yet the entire situation still bored him. It bored him that the other children were so predictable, that they were so easily frightened and pushed to aggression. It practically disappointed him that none of them could see past their own fears and prejudices and that reality was lost to them.

Sally arrived at the orphanage in the middle of the night a week before he 'died'. He found her shivering and soaking wet on the orphanage's doorstep and took her inside. The gaping hole in her face unsettled Saphyr, so Harry tore his sock and wrapped it around her head. She then took it upon herself to become his new shadow, following him everywhere.

The other children thought he summoned her from the depths of darkness and finally decided it was best to leave him alone. All of them except Evelyn, who was inspired to attempt to _bury him alive_. He survived by the sheer dumb luck that the children thought sick inches of dirt was enough to keep him under.

It worried and excited him that the rush of heat the flooded his body then and the instinct to take revenge finally made him feel as if the world was somewhat interesting. Yet everyone except Sally fled from his presence after they realized he 'came back from the dead'. Everything became boring again. Somehow, being ignored after being feared irritated Harry so much more.

He snapped. His muscles tingled, his fingers twitched, his whole body struck out and he collapsed the hallway, Sally reporting to him later that they all thought he died. It worked to his advantage and no one believed a word Sally said whenever she mentioned Harry or referenced him like he was still alive. Harry felt dead. He truly did. Everything felt empty.

Then Aster stumbled his way to his mind and opened Harry's world to somewhere beyond the orphanage and beyond the island. He hinted at a life far away from the dreary existence Harry succumbed to previously and gave him the slightest hope that he'd be free.

It took three years and an ounce of near-faltering faith, but Aster came for him, and that was all Harry needed.

Now, Harry strained his eye muscles to not roll them as he suggested Aster to answer their 'Uncles'.

He wondered at how he was not surprised when Aster's lips stretched impossibly into the largest smile he had ever seen and his brother cheerfully pronounced, "I found Harry!"

Uncle Severus and Uncle Sirius stared at me in shock before turning to look at Harry. Though Uncle Severus' shock was a tilt of the eyebrow and Uncle Sirius' shock was falling over and crawling across the floor to stop right in front of us. I saw their eyes go between us as if just now seeing how similar we looked.

"Harry…?" Uncle Sirius stared at Harry as if he was torn between sobbing and enveloping my brother in a tight hug. Harry reflexively stiffened next to me but didn't otherwise react. I guessed he still wasn't used to being looked at with something other than fear or disgust. It had only been less than a day ago that he was living in that awful orphanage, after all.

Idly I heard Harry say something back to Uncle Sirius as I wondered if the orphanage got burned down or if anyone was able to put out the fire. The fire was pretty big and I hoped no one had died. An image of the little girl I had met at the orphanage flashed through my mind and I worried for her safety. Just as quickly, the worry went away as I didn't really know the little girl. I didn't truly care about whether or not she died. Did that make me a bad person? Well, I doubt anyone would think the 'Boy-Who-Lived' was a bad person so I really shouldn't have questioned myself.

'Aster, stop, please… Your plethora of random thoughts isn't helping me think.'

'Oh, sorry Harry. It's not like I wanted to send you all of those thoughts.'

'Then try stopping them.' My eyes closed as I tried to find that connection I felt between Harry and me before. Recent memories of my life flashed by me as I searched within my mind's eye... It was amazing how much had happened so quickly; going to the hospital, flying across Britain to find Harry, arriving back at home, leaving soon after, and now sitting here in Uncle Severus' house. To prevent myself from being distracted further, I continued looking for Harry's and my connection. I idly wondered if I was wasting time, but did time exist here? Ah, it was too confusing.

Somewhere in the depths of my mind I felt something that just screamed 'Harry' out to me. I imagined myself reaching out to it, but stopped myself from touching it. The last time I did that I was sucked into all of Harry's painful memories. Somewhere around the connection I found my string of thoughts flowing towards the connection and tried to figure out a way to stop it. This was my mind so I should be able to do anything I wanted with it right? A piece of paper appeared and jumped in front of the string of thoughts. All of the thoughts started writing themselves out on the piece of paper, no longer rushing towards the connection.

That job done, I took another 'look' at the connection. Idly I thought up a door but left it wide open. The door was pretty boring; a plain rectangular thing made of wood. Smiling to myself I changed it into a metal door with a black lightning bolt for a handle. I gave it cool black swirly designs on the front and back, adding a bit of neon green and neon blue. Ooh, I also added a door mat that said 'Aster' on it with a little pot of aster flowers to the side of the door. What should I add next?

'ASTER!'

I winced, snapping out of my mind. Everyone was staring at me and it was unsettling. Uncle Sirius was staring at me worriedly. Harry had his eyes slightly narrowed at me. I think I was the only who could tell he was upset with me. Uncle Severus was just staring blankly at me and I couldn't tell if he was worried, angry, or something else. Putting on my cutest pout I waved my hands around in front of me and whined, "Stop staring at me!" It always worked when Father tried to give me a serous lecture, and then he'd go off to get Mother.

Harry gave me a reproachful look, "We wouldn't have been staring if you hadn't decided on aimlessly wandering around in La La Land."

My eyes widened, "How did you know I called it La La Land?"

Uncle Sirius blinked for a few moments before bursting out into laughter.

Like I said, adults are weird.

He quieted when Uncle Severus gave him a look, but his shoulders were still shaking slightly and he fell to the floor again. When he still couldn't control himself he suddenly transformed, leaving a big black dog in his spot. Harry and I both stared in amazement, but soon had our attention drawn away by Uncle Severus.

"Aster, what did you mean by 'you _found_ Harry'?"

I opened my mouth to speak but Harry cut in, "Aster discovered my existence and chose to remember it when others decided to… neglect it." Seeing no reaction from Uncle Severus, Harry explained, "Due to unknown circumstances, I was chosen to be abandoned while Aster was lovingly raised." It was so cool how my brother could act so knowledgeable when he only found out about everything just recently.

Uncle Severus stayed quiet for a moment, most likely thinking about what Harry said. He looked over my brother, his eyes lingering on the blazing red eye and the straight scar running through it. "What happened to your eye?"

Again, Harry cut in before me, "I don't know."

'I know what happened, Harry–'

'I know you do Aster, but I don't really trust him. The other things I said before were to satisfy his curiosity and were obvious facts that can be deduced from earlier events. Everything else is unnecessary for him to know. I don't want to spill my life story to people I just met.' The instinct to cringe flashed through me as I thought back to what I had done earlier. I practically read his memories like a book when he obviously didn't want people doing stuff like that. Sensing my discomfort, Harry added, 'You're different Aster.' I mentally nodded back but I still felt bad.

Suddenly my stomach growled as I yawned. "Uncle Severus, I'm hungry…"

Uncle Severus stared at me incredulously. I tensed as Uncle Severus' eyes narrowed at me before he looked away and sighed. He silently conjured a glass full of a dark drink I think was called 'vine'.

Sensing Uncle Severus' mood, Uncle Sirius transformed back into a human and said, "I'll just take them to the kitchen then…"

Uncle Severus nodded, "I believe it will be wiser to speak to Lily about what has occurred today."

Uncle Sirius nodded back and once again turned into a dog. He padded over to where Harry and I were seated and tugged on my sleeve with his mouth.

"Yay, food!" I leapt off the chair and climbed onto Uncle Sirius' back. He was really big for a dog so I didn't think he'd mind. I always wanted to ride an animal!

'You're such a child. Aster.'

'Hey, you're nine, too!'

'Of course, we're twins.' Somehow, when Harry thought that I knew he wasn't really agreeing with me.

Harry glanced at Uncle Severus before gracefully rising out of the chair and following me. It was so cool how awesome he looked getting out of a chair. He still looked cool even though he had to hop down since the chair was so much bigger than him.

I looked away from Harry, now watching where Uncle Sirius was taking me. He carried me down a hallway and I was surprised to see that there weren't any paintings or pictures on the walls nor were there any other types of decorative objects. Every other house I had been to before always had something adorning their hallways. Whether it was a vase or a picture, most households liked displaying some sort of statement of wealth, popularity, or other such boast about themselves. Obviously Uncle Sirius and Uncle Severus weren't those kinds of people.

Without me noticing, Harry had come to my side and grasped my hand. I gave the hand a light squeeze as I smiled at him. He gave me a small smile back before facing forward again.

'Hey, where's Saphyr?' In reply Harry whispered something in Parseltongue I couldn't completely hear, and Saphyr slithered out of his sleeve to wrap around our clasped hands before going up my sleeve. I almost giggled as the snake traveled up my arm to settle around my neck. It was like having a necklace that was alive.

After a while Uncle Sirius stopped in front of a tall black door. I wondered how Uncle Sirius was going to open the door as a dog when I noticed a second handle to the door. It was the perfect height for Uncle Sirius to reach it with his front paw without having to lift himself up and jostle me around. I guessed Uncle Sirius travelled around the house like this often for him to have his own door handles.

The kitchen was pretty simple, yet nice, just like the rest of the house. Blacks, grays, blues, and greens filled the room staying mostly in the darker or more transparent shades. There were many cabinets along two walls of the room with little labels on them. It all looked very organized. There was also a fridge, freezer, stove, oven, and sink. I didn't know male adults cooked, but with Uncle Sirius and Uncle Severus the only ones here I guess at least one of them had to. In another corner there was also a row of little hearths each with a cauldron sitting on top. Above the cauldrons was a window that gave a view of the garden and glass house full of plants. It was kind of hard to tell since it was night time, but the light of the moon and stars helped me out.

I slid off Uncle Sirius' back so I could climb up one of the barstools that were in front of a counter. I liked the feeling of my feet swinging in the air. Harry lifted himself up onto the barstool next to me. Yes, _lifted_ as he didn't look like he had clambered up the stool the same way I had.

Uncle Sirius walked around the counter and transformed back into a human. "Get ready for some wonderful cooking, kids! I bet you've never tasted anything quite like what I'm about to give you," he smiled brightly at us. Suddenly his face fell and he quickly turned around, scratching his head and quietly cursing at himself.

I looked over at Harry and saw that he was looking down at the counter. 'Harry what's up?'

Harry lifted his head and turned to me, an unreadable look in his eyes. Subtly he glanced at Uncle Sirius before replying, 'I will discuss it with you later,' and turned to watch Uncle Sirius. I didn't really want to wait until later since it seemed like something big, but I guessed Harry wasn't comfortable around anyone right now except for me.

Uncle Sirius moved over to the cabinets, opening various ones and pulling out ingredients, a pan, and some utensils. It was obvious how familiar he was with the cabinets as he didn't have to read the labels to know where everything was. I wondered if Uncle Sirius could sniff out the ingredients since he was a dog. "Uncle Sirius, how did you turn into a dog?"

"Hmm?" He looked up from cutting some meat. "Magic," he made it sound like it was something mysterious. Laughing he continued his cooking.

I turned to watch Uncle Sirius cook and quickly got bored. The silence in the room was stretching uncomfortably, only broken by the noises of Uncle Sirius' utensils. Looks like the 'Boy-Who-Lived' had to save the day and liven up the atmosphere. "Why were you laughing at us earlier, Uncle Sirius?"

This time Uncle Sirius didn't look up from what he was doing as he answered. "That's because Severus and your mom had the same conversation when we were little," a humored tone flowed through his voice as he continued; "I remember your mom almost ran right into a tree, she was so spaced out. That's when Severus scolded her for gallivanting off in 'La La Land'."

"You and Uncle Severus knew Mother when she was little?"

I heard Uncle Sirius laugh to himself muttering something about 'Uncle' and 'gotta tell Lucy'. He started throwing the prepared ingredients in a hot pan, moving the food around quickly. "Yeah, this is the house Severus grew up in and it's near where your Mother grew up too. My family had some history with Severus' family so I was sent over to hang out every now and then. All three of us didn't really have too many other friends in our childhood so we were pretty close." Next to the pan I noticed a pot of boiling water I had missed before. Uncle Sirius took the pot and drained out the water after turning down the heat on the other pan.

Even without our mental connection I could tell Harry would be silent for the rest of the night and that I would have to keep the conversation going, "Why didn't you guys have any other friends?"

Now Uncle Sirius had put the stuff in the pan in the pot with what I discovered were noodles. He mixed it around, thinking for a while. "Well, neither your mother nor Severus like talking about it much but I guess it's not a secret. With me, my family didn't really like me much because of my opinion on the, how do I say this, 'family business'. There were a lot of things they wanted me to do that I didn't, so I was restricted to doing certain things. Going to Severus' house was allowed, so I came here as often as I could to get away. Your mother was just so much more mature and intelligent compared to other children her age, so she didn't like hanging out with others too much and they didn't like hanging out with her. Thankfully Severus and I could keep up with her, Severus more than I, so she liked being with us. Severus, on the other hand, was like a mixture of both me and your mother. He was intelligent and mature but also had a family that wasn't all too caring of him. His mother died when he was young and his father blamed him for it and… made some bad decisions. It didn't make the house much of a home, and he ended up staying outside with your mother and I all the time. He learned to tolerate us." This last was said with a smile.

I barely paid attention to Uncle Sirius putting a plate of food before me as Harry sent me a thought, 'People are always so eager to talk about themselves and others.' It was merely an observation but I sensed there was more to it, even though I couldn't tell what it was.

Idly I started eating, hearing the clink of glass hitting the counter as Uncle Sirius gave Harry and me cups. I wondered if being so eager to talk was a good or bad thing. Due to recent events, I didn't really know if I could trust what I thought of as good or bad anymore. Everything seemed flipped around and turned upside down to me and it was so very confusing. Well, I believe I could trust myself when I thought the pasta was good. Taking the cup, I noticed Uncle Sirius had given us apple cider. It was one of my favorite drinks, but Mother and Father usually wouldn't let me have any until New Year's. I don't know why but I guess it's just one of those weird parent things.

After I finished gulping down my drink I looked over at Harry to see him sipping his drink. He reminded me of Uncle Severus when I saw the man sipping his glass of 'vine' –or was it pine? sine? rine?- earlier. Harry had that adult finesse with the way he lightly held his cup, taking delicate sips every now and then. There was even that same blank stare in his eyes as if he could see right through everything. Uncle Sirius must have seen the resemblance as well since he had a fond look in his eyes as he watched Harry drink.

Happiness filled me inside seeing that there was someone who didn't see Harry as some dark and evil person out to hurt me. Whoever this 'Dumbledore' person was, he was pretty stupid. I didn't see how anyone could think my twin was a bad person. He was just too cool! His red eye was cooler than my gold eye since it looked as if he had traded it with Saphyr even though the snake's eyes were both present and both dark blue. His straight scar was cooler than mine too. Even though everyone said my eye looked like a 'blazing sun' I thought it looked like some kind of flower. I _was_ named after a flower but it still wasn't very cool. Harry acted like an adult but wasn't as boring as most adults were.

A yawn tore its way through my throat and I leaned over to rest my head on Harry's shoulder. 'Harry, I'm tired…' I closed my eyes and vaguely heard Harry addressing Uncle Sirius. Strong arms lifted me up and I fought to remain awake so I could see where we were going.

I failed.

A white expanse of nothing met my eyes and I noticed I was back in 'La La Land'. Well, it wasn't _my_ La La Land since Harry was there too. As he softly smiled down at me I noticed we were on a couch with my head in Harry's lap. Looking into his eyes I saw a lingering sadness despite his smile. 'Harry, what's wrong?'

His eyes widened as they focused down at me. Guess Harry had a 'La La Land' too. He closed his eyes, shaking his head. 'It's nothing, Aster, go back to sleep.' One of his hands was idly petting my hair and I felt tempted to go back to sleep as Harry told me.

Fighting against temptation I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. 'You said you would tell me, Harry… I don't like secrets.' I would've gone for that 'puppy dog' look but I knew Harry would see right through it.

Luckily he decided to answer me, 'Why do you care about me so much, Aster? How could you spend _three years_ searching for a brother you weren't even sure you had?'

'I _was_ sure I had a brother, Harry, I saw you,' I protested.

'Still, how could you search so diligently for me?' His eyes looked into mine as if he could find the answer there. With the way he stared so desperately I think he might have if he looked long enough.

I smiled at him, 'Why not?' After finding out I had Harry, he became the center of my life, my reason to go along with all of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' nonsense. It felt like I was only living half a life before I knew about Harry, half a life that I wasn't even in control of. Everyone kept on making my decisions for me. Harry was the real Boy-Who-Lived and I wanted to both reveal him and do something of my own free will. Now after meeting him, though, I don't think I really want people to see him as the Boy-Who-Lived anymore; all of the obsessed devotion wouldn't do my brother justice. I would make everyone see how awesome 'Harry' was in his own right and continue being the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Harry was my other half and I wouldn't allow anyone or anything to think or do anything negative towards him. It was my obligation as his brother to take care of him as I know Harry would do the same for me.

Harry took a few moments to think before he smiled back at me and shook his head again. 'I should have known you would say that.' Even if Harry didn't really trust Mother, Uncle Severus, or Uncle Sirius yet, I felt that Harry would put his discomfort aside to stay with me.

I was about to ask why Harry had reacted the way he did in the kitchen but then the realization hit me as I remembered his experiences in the orphanage. He probably hadn't ever eaten anything even remotely resembling food. Uncle Sirius was correct in cursing himself for his stupid question though I guessed it wasn't really his fault. I shifted a little to make myself a little more comfortable on the couch. 'How'd the couch get here?'

'This place is in the realm of our minds, Aster. It's controlled by our imagination.' I thought about that, and imagined my cool door to 'La La Land'. Almost instantly it showed up across from the couch and through it I could see the mat and flowers I had placed at the entrance earlier. Instinctively I could tell that if I went through the door I would only be in 'La La Land' and that Harry couldn't go there. This place we were in seemed like a visual representation of our connection. With a thought my door disappeared and we were surrounded by white nothingness again. We stayed there on the couch, peaceful in the growing silence. This silence wasn't uncomfortable like earlier in the kitchen. Instead it was calm and soothing. It wasn't long before my eyes closed and I entered true deep sleep.

A ray of sunlight slipped through dark curtains and struck my eyes through my eyelids. It looked like the sun had just finished rising and birds were chirping outside. At my side Harry was still asleep. Interestingly I noticed that his scar didn't cut across his right eyelid, making the one scar look like two separate lines on his face as he slept. Carefully I lifted the thick blanket off of me, not wanting to unnecessarily wake Harry up. The dark blue of the blanket was only barely distinguishable against Harry's black hair.

At first I was worried I would be lost in the unfamiliar room, but like in the kitchen there were metal labels on the doors and drawers. I easily found my way to the bathroom to freshen up. It was almost funny how everything was labeled; where the towels were, where the soap was, which soap was which, and everything else in the room. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole house was labeled this way. After failing to brush my hair I made sure I put everything back where it was supposed to go and went back to the bedroom.

Harry was awake now and had pulled back the curtains to look out the window. Outside was the other side of the house opposite the glass one with the garden. From here I could see a cluster of trees and could just barely spot the rest of the neighborhood beyond them. Uncle Severus' house was in a nice little alcove away from the other houses, surrounded by beautiful plant life. It almost seemed like the house was in a completely different region from the houses only a minute's walk away.

In the bright sunlight I finally got a real good look at my brother. His hair was just as unruly as mine but it had an extra bit of messiness. His skin was lighter than mine but was darkened by dirt and faint scars. The shirt he was wearing had dozens of small holes and tears which were mirrored by his pants. Each piece seemed a size too small for him. It was a wonder they hadn't fallen apart by now. Harry's hands rested on the window sill and I could see Saphyr wrapped around his wrist. As he was looking out of the window his confident demeanor had faded away, leaving the image of a tired, depressed child. Harry looked so fragile at that moment and it amazed me how strong and confident he could appear to be for the outside world. Seeing him like this strengthened my resolve to be there for my brother no matter what from now on.

'Harry?'

Suddenly the small, fragile child turned into a strong, secure child. He turned to look at me, smiling at me with his soft smile I was beginning to adore. I never want that smile to go away. "_What is it Aster?_" I don't know why Harry decided to speak Parseltongue, but it sounded really nice with the calm morning atmosphere going on.

"_Do you want to take a bath or shower or something? I'm done with the bathroom already."_

Saphyr stirred from his place around Harry's wrist. Turning his head towards his holder he said, "_Warm water would be nice, Master."_ That was interesting. I guess Harry was Saphyr's owner, but it still sort of surprised me to hear the snake address my brother as 'Master'.

Harry nodded to Saphyr and walked past me to enter the bathroom. Not a moment later he returned. "Aster," he looked perfectly normal but I could tell he was slightly uncomfortable. Was he… embarrassed about something?

"Is there something wrong?"

For a moment I thought I saw my brother flush in embarrassment. A flash of accomplishment went through me as I had correctly read through my brother's hard-to-read demeanor. "I," I had to lean a little closer to Harry to hear his quiet statement, "I don't know how to use…" I really should have expected this but I guess Harry's confident mask had made me forget he grew up in the orphanage. He probably had never seen a proper bathroom before in his life. There might have been group showers and bathroom stalls, but I doubted there were any bathrooms there like there were in a normal house.

"Don't worry Harry, I'll come help," I said brightly, "it'll be fun!" I took his hand and led him into the bathroom.

The next hour was filled with me teaching Harry how to use everything in the bathroom. All of the knobs and handles for the sink, the toilet, the bath tub, and the shower were explained thoroughly. Harry stayed silent, nodding every now and then. When it finally got down to Harry actually taking the bath he was hesitant at first before taking his clothes off.

I didn't feel bad about the orphanage burning down anymore. I wish I had been the one to set it on fire. There were so many scars… They weren't even little ones either. Initially when I had seen Harry's memories I didn't fully realize the extent of damage Harry had suffered at the hands of mere children. Silently I helped wash Harry's back and made sure he used all of the knobs correctly. Off to the side Saphyr was happily swimming around in the warm water with his blue scales glittering through the water. The snake reluctantly slithered out of the tub when it was time to drain the water.

While Harry was drying off we both noticed I had started crying. "I'm sorry," I said as I started wiping away my tears, "I don't know why I'm crying, I just–"

Wordlessly Harry wrapped his arms around me. My tears turned into sobs as I cursed myself for not finding Harry sooner. I cursed Dumbledore and my parents for sending him to that orphanage in the first place, and I cursed all of my uncles for not stopping them. I was mindlessly cursing everyone and everything I could think of for allowing Harry to suffer so much.

Soon my sobs calmed down. "Are you alright now?" Harry asked me, holding me at arm's length. I nodded and went to the sink to wash my face. Harry grabbed a bath robe to cover himself and then we went back to the bedroom.

Walking over to the cabinet that said 'shirts' I asked, "Harry, what's your favorite color?"

"I like blue," he replied, looking down at Saphyr who had curled back around his wrist. He looked over at me and added, "and gold."

I grinned, "I like red, black, and green. But I don't like those pinkish reds or those dirty greens. If you want to be specific I like crimson, emerald green, and a dark, dark, black. Neon green is cool too. Oh, and maroon is sometimes nice as long as it's not too purple." Harry laughed lightly behind me and I wished I hadn't been looking through the shirts or I would've seen it. My brother didn't seem the type to laugh too often and I knew I would always cherish the moments I could make him laugh.

I discovered the cabinet was magical as all of the shirts suddenly changed colors. On the top shelf I found an array of blues, golds, and silvers while on the bottom shelf were reds, blacks, and greens. For Harry I picked out a dark blue shirt that had a swirling design of silver and gold lines and for myself I picked out a matching black shirt with swirling silver and neon green lines. From the pants drawer I picked out two pairs of dark gray jeans. Bringing the clothes over to the bed I found that Harry had remembered to take out underwear and socks. I felt a little foolish but squashed the feeling. It made me giddy to be wearing 'twin clothing' with my brother.

After we both got dressed we left the room. I decided to just follow wherever Harry went because he was most likely awake to see how to get to the kitchen from our bedroom when I had fallen asleep. For a while I couldn't tell if my assumption was correct or not because my twin had put his strong and confident mask back on. I discovered that Harry had known where he was going when I recognized the kitchen door down the hallway.

We were about to go inside when we heard Uncle Severus' voice, "Are you sure you want to do this, Lily?"

Relief filled me since Mother was okay. I hadn't realized I was worried about her but I knew she never liked fighting with Father in the past, and this fight wasn't likely to end soon. I quickly turned my attention to the door to hear Mother's reply, "Yes, Severus, I'm filing for a divorce." Mother's voice broke as she said the last part. I knew what a divorce was. One of Mother's friends had gotten one last month and had come crying to Mother afterwards. While I was happy that Mother wasn't planning on giving up Harry, I felt sad at the thought of losing Father. I pushed the sadness away with the memory of Father saying Harry was dangerous.

"What are you going to do afterwards then?" Uncle Severus asked.

It took a little while for Mother to reply, "I don't… I don't know," I heard a sob escape Mother's mouth. "What _can_ I do Severus? I just don't know…" She started sobbing and the sobs soon became muffled.

Harry slowly opened the door and we quietly stepped inside. I could tell Uncle Severus noticed us walking in but Mother hadn't. It was odd seeing Mother in Uncle Severus' arms crying her eyes out. Uncle Severus looked torn between discomfort and sympathy. He didn't look like the hugging type and I appreciated him comforting Mother despite that. Harry and I stood there in the doorway watching Mother cry.

"Good morning!" Uncle Sirius suddenly jumped into the doorway behind Harry and me, yelling cheerfully. Everyone in the room turned to him with wide eyes. Mother moved away from Uncle Severus and her eyes widened a little further at seeing Harry and me there as well.

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly at Uncle Sirius, "Must you be so loud?"

Uncle Sirius tilted his head to the side and blinked at Harry for a few moments. "Hey Lily, you sure this isn't Sev's kid? I swear he acts just like him!"

Both Harry and Uncle Severus looked at him with equally narrowed eyes and a single, tilted eyebrow that screamed 'are-you-serious'. I looked at my brother and then at Uncle Severus and laughed at their identical expressions. They both specifically had their right eyebrow raised, their expressions subtly relaying their disbelief at what the man had just said. Mother noticed as well and laughed as her sobs subsided. I couldn't tell if Uncle Sirius said that seriously or if he had just said it to lighten the atmosphere.

"I assure you Sirius," Uncle Severus said, "I was never so desperate so as to consider incest." Mother blushed as Uncle Severus claimed her as his sister. I remembered Uncle Sirius said all three of them were close as children but I could tell Uncle Severus wasn't the type to acknowledge it so blatantly all too often.

I walked over to Mother with Harry at my side. "Mother, are we going to live here now?"

Mother, Uncle Severus, and Uncle Sirius started a silent conversation full of glances, vague gestures, and varying expressions. It was quite amusing but I wasn't the most patient child in the world and quickly got bored. Harry and I moved over to the counter and settled down on the barstools. I wasn't bored for long as the silent conversation burst into sound.

"I'm not so sure about this, guys." I was surprised to hear Uncle Sirius be the one protesting.

Mother had similar thoughts. "I'd think you'd want them around the most, Sirius."

"I know, but my line of work isn't the best thing to have kids around…"

I recognized Mother's annoyance by the way she absently twirled her wand in her hand. "You still haven't told me what it is you do. Are the rumors true and you're just freeloading here, going out to parties every other weekend?"

"Not really, but-"

Uncle Severus cut in. "We can talk about Sirius' work later, Lily. Despite the mutt's worries it's nothing the three of us cannot handle on our own. While Potter knows where you are, Dumbledore won't let him tell anyone so this place is safest for the twins. No one will expect you to take the Boy-Who-Lived to the house of a Death Eater and the freeloading Black Heir." I really wanted to find out who this Dumbledore person was already. It seemed like everyone knew who he was and yet I don't remember him. It angered me to think there was someone who had controlled so much of my life while I had never met him.

Looking over at Mother I could see her thinking. One of her fingers was tapping the top of the table, and there was that 'thinking wrinkle' that crossed her forehead as she bit furrowed her eyebrows. "Why won't Dumbledore let James say anything?"

"Like I said before, taking the Boy-Who-Lived to the house of a Death Eater isn't something people will expect. They won't particularly like it either. The Wizarding World has only recently finished recovering from the devastation of the Dark Lord's reign. If the word gets out that there's a hidden child, a divorce between the Boy-Who-Lived's parents, and the child is taking refuge in a Death Eater's home, it would cause mass confusion in this time of peace. Dumbledore won't want that and will do everything possible to prevent it from happening."

Now Mother and Uncle Sirius were nodding. "I believe I'll agree with you, Severus," Mother said, "at least for now. We can talk about future problems once everything has settled down somewhat."

'I don't know if I like being talked about as if I'm not here,' I commented to Harry. All of this was reminding me of the reality that I was the 'Boy-Who-Lived' in the public's eye. Which meant basically everyone, as I was the only who knew the truth. I still hadn't talked to Harry about it either, though I still didn't know if I would talk to him about it. Well, it's not like I have anything to hide so I'll tell him later.

My thoughts shifted as I paid attention to Harry's reply. 'Even if you were included in the discussion, Aster, would you really have anything to contribute? These are matters we cannot control right now so you will have to tolerate it until we are older, wiser, and trusted a bit more.' It was interesting that he was defending the adults, when the twitch of his eye told me he didn't like being ignored either.

"Now that the boring part is over…" Uncle Sirius left his spot from the doorway and walked over to the cabinets, "let's eat!"

Breakfast was mostly a quiet affair, except for Uncle Sirius randomly saying stuff. Everyone had cereal and spent the time either eating and ignoring Uncle Sirius or laughing at his antics. Mother and I were the ones laughing while Harry and Uncle Severus would just ignore Uncle Sirius. He would ask Harry and me something like what our favorite animal was or what our favorite number was. Other times he would say something about the weather, someone's outfit, or the cat he saw run by the window. I answered Uncle Sirius' questions and was glad he didn't press for Harry's answers.

All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. I almost spilled my cereal when I jumped at the noise. Harry pulled me down from my barstool and we went to follow Uncle Severus into the living room.

Uncle Sirius stopped us. "Stay here, okay kids?" Reluctantly we nodded and watched as Mother and Uncle Sirius went to the living room.

I cracked open the kitchen door and noticed Uncle Sirius had accidentally left the living room door slightly ajar. While the living room door wasn't open enough for me to see anything I could hear Uncle Severus unlocking the door. There was a small gasp from Mother and a low growl from Uncle Sirius.

Uncle Severus' voice came out in a sneering drawl, "Dumbledore."


	5. Transcendence

As I heard the name of the man that ruined Harry's life I felt something build within in me. It burned from the inside out as my fists clenched and my jaw tightened. I glared through both the door to the kitchen and the door to the living room as if I could see the evil person right in front of me. With a raging thirst for violence I grabbed the kitchen door's handle and moved to throw the door open.

A thin hand clasped around my wrist. 'Aster, stop.' Harry's eyes were staring deep within mine and I felt frozen within his gaze.

The moment passed. 'Why? Don't you feel _mad_? Don't you feel the least bit _angry_ at the guy who messed up your life?' I couldn't understand why Harry wouldn't let me go over and hurt that 'Dumbledore' person. I had every right to want to have that guy down under the earth where he couldn't ruin Harry's life anymore.

Harry shook his head at me, 'This 'Dumbledore' did not ruin my life. Those _creatures _in the orphanage were the ones that hurt me; not him.'

'If it wasn't for him you would've never gone there!' Why didn't he understand?

My brother searched my face and sighed. 'You're not going to change your mind, are you?' Deep within his eyes I saw that same tired look I had seen that morning and I felt guilt tug at me.

'But-' I glanced at the opening where I could just barely hear the adults quietly talking. 'Can I at least see him?'

For a few moments Harry didn't speak. It looked like he was deciding between something and I waited anxiously for his answer. My spirits lifted almost immediately when he nodded at me. My hand quickly went to turn the door knob but Harry once again stopped me.

Before I could say anything he said, 'Just watch.'

Harry closed his eyes and grasped my wrist. I could feel him reaching through our connection and I opened my door to 'La La Land'. Almost immediately everything around me changed. I could suddenly see inside the living room where Mother, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Severus were along with the 'Dumbledore' guy. When I was about to examine Dumbledore Harry's voice entered my mind.

'This is interesting…'

I wanted to turn towards Harry but he wasn't physically there. Even though I could feel him beside me, I knew we weren't in our bodies anymore. 'What is this, Harry?'

'We're looking through Saphyr's eyes. It's a gift I have though, like before, I wasn't entirely sure I would be able to include you. My assumption gave interesting results.'

I really wanted to look at the Dumbledore guy but I paid attention to my brother. 'What's interesting?'

'Everything is much clearer and detailed. The room looks the way you or I would see it as opposed to the way Saphyr would see the room.'

While I could tell Harry was about to add something I heard someone speak.

"Good morning Lily, Sirius, Severus." The one who had spoken was an old man I guessed was Dumbledore. He had thick white hair and a long white beard to match. It was the complete stereotypical image of a medieval wizard, all the way down to the spindly, wrinkled fingers. He also had the outrageous-looking clothing. Seriously, who in their right mind would wear bright yellow and dark green polka dots over a dark pink background? Old people were twice as weird as adults.

As Dumbledore sipped a cup of tea I noticed none of the other adults had bothered to reply. Mother was looking a tad worried and confused, while Uncle Severus was just lightly glaring at the old man. Uncle Sirius looked like he wanted to murder Dumbledore with his eyes. I was surprised he was still sitting down in his chair since he looked so angry. '_Saphyr, why is Uncle Sirius so upset?__' _I didn't really know if Saphyr would hear me but I thought that if she could then she'd be able to fill Harry and me in on what had happened so far.

Luckily, I was correct. _'__The old one came inside before the others could react. The old one angered the canine when he sat down in the silent one's chair. The fiery one was but a dwindling flame the entire time._'

I totally did not understand half of what Saphyr said, but I had Harry to translate. 'Dumbledore walked in and sat in Severus' chair. Sirius was angered as Severus is his Alpha, in other words his mate and superior. Mother did nothing as she was caught between respect and anger.' I wanted to prompt Harry into saying Uncle Severus and Uncle Sirius but hearing him address Mother as 'Mother' was enough for now.

Then the old man broke the silence again. "I have come here today to offer Lily and Severus teaching positions at Hogwarts. Luckily you happened to be visiting Severus, Lily." Mother and the two uncles were obviously shocked. Uncle Severus' glare even went away as he stared at Dumbledore. His hand, which reached out towards Mother, froze in midair. From what I could see I guessed Saphyr was on top of the mantel facing the couch where Mother and Uncle Severus were seated. Uncle Sirius was in his own chair. Unfortunately from Saphyr's position I couldn't see the old man's face, but I could see him taking another sip of his tea before continuing. "As many throughout the Wizarding World know, both of you have achieved the grand accomplishment of getting your Mastery; Lily as a Charms Mistress and Severus as a Potions Master. Very few people ever get their Mastery in their chosen field and even fewer acquire one at such a young age. It would be an honor to have both of you come and teach at Hogwarts."

Mother was the first to reply. "What happened to Professor Flitwick? He isn't ill is he?" I knew about Professor Flitwick. He was Mother's favorite professor when she was in school and was the one to teach her everything she knew about Charms.

"No, Filius is not ill," the old man replied, "he merely wishes to teach dueling at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts. He had been endeavoring to start a Dueling Club at Hogwarts again when Minerva jokingly stated he should give up and go for teaching the subject. Unfortunately he was delighted by the idea and plans to leave Hogwarts in a couple of years. I believe all three of you know of his love of dueling and his enthusiasm in teaching it, being former students yourselves."

"Lily-"

Uncle Sirius looked furious when Dumbledore completely disregarded and interrupted him. "You don't have to decide right now, Lily." With the bubbly tone of a school girl Dumbledore turned to Uncle Severus, "What about you, Severus? Your accomplishment in Potions has inspired Horace to retire earlier than he had originally planned. He adores all of his students but believes they deserve a younger, 'fresher' teacher to hone their talents."

"I do not care to suffer the presence of idiotic children, Dumbledore," Uncle Severus drawled in reply. Sitting next to Mother he looked perfectly relaxed though I could see his eyes were narrowed at the old man. There was also a hint of a sneer on his lips.

As if he had not heard Uncle Severus the old man added, "Horace also recommended you as the next Head of Slytherin."

Uncle Severus' eyes widened. "Head of Slytherin?" It was the first time I had seen Uncle Severus act like that. It looked like he wanted to say more but couldn't quite find the words to say. His posture was still straight and confident but it didn't seem as intimidating as it had been before.

Dumbledore took another sip of his tea. "I do know you cherished your House, Severus, even if you did not quite care for those who inhabited it." The old man turned back to Mother without missing a beat, "Do think about my request, Lily."

Mother looked at Dumbledore and then down at her lap, "I…" She trailed off, looking unsure of herself.

"While it's likely it'll be time for his first year when you begin, I'd be more than happy to allow Aster to stay at Hogwarts while you teach." Dumbledore said.

The unsure expression immediately disappeared and Mother's eyes narrowed as her lips tightened into a small frown. Her hands that were previously clasped together now gripped each other tightly. I could just feel the anger seeping off of her and felt fear slowly begin to pool within me. "What about _Harry_?" She spat out.

The ignorant old man pretended like he couldn't sense her anger, but his tone darkened just slightly. "Whatever do you mean, Lily? I don't believe I know anyone related to you who would have that name." There was an unspoken 'you _shouldn't _know anyone with that name'. Uncle Sirius audibly growled at the old man while Uncle Severus' glare returned sevenfold. Mother's expression was a cross between offended disbelief and fury. Unbelievably the old man continued, "If you don't want Aster to stay at Hogwarts, I believe James would-"

"I'm filing for a divorce." Uncle Severus let out a hiss and closed his eyes for a moment. I knew he didn't like that Mother revealed that so quickly, but there was no stopping her once her temper got the better of her.

Saphyr had slithered from the mantel of the fireplace to the top of the front door's threshold. I was so glad the serpent had done so as I got a full view of Dumbledore's face. He had that wise old man look with light blue eyes and wrinkled skin. The eyes widened slightly and I saw their twinkle fade. He looked frozen in place with his old hand holding his teacup in the air. The look only lasted for a moment but I could tell it was a monumental moment. Slowly Dumbledore placed his teacup down on the side table next to him.

He took a small breath, "Does Aster know?"

Uncle Sirius voiced my thoughts. "Why should you care?" he muttered. Why would he care? That old man had never visited me before nor had he ever been a part of my childhood. He wasn't there when I first learned to read nor was he there when I came back with Harry. Who was this man where so many people cared about every little thing he said, even to the point of giving up their own child? It was ridiculous to even ponder over! Even if he was Merlin himself his words shouldn't affect my life at all. Even if I was the Boy-Who-Lived he shouldn't affect my life at all.

Even though I was sure all of the adults heard Uncle Sirius no one replied. Instead Mother said, "He doesn't yet, but he will."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her, his eyes still slightly narrowed. "You aren't planning to raise him here, are you? You did say you were just visiting, Lily. I believe Molly and Arthur have a child Aster's age and would be more than happy to assist you. Aster should grow up with friends his age and a proper father figure."

Suddenly Uncle Severus stood up. "While we have all _enjoyed_ your visit," his eyes were narrowed and a scowl was firmly set on his face, "I believe it is time for you to leave." The statement was said with an even tone but each word had been pronounced clearly and forcefully.

For a moment I thought the old man was going to protest but he merely looked at Uncle Severus before grinning. "I will take my leave then. Severus, Lily, please think about my request and I look forward to seeing Aster within Hogwart's walls." Without further ado the old man left.

Mother and Sirius started talking to each other but I wasn't paying attention. Saphyr slithered down the door frame and headed towards the door to the hallway. A sudden 'Accio' interrupted Mother and Uncle Sirius and Saphyr was lifted into the air. The whirl of images flashing past the serpent's eyes as he flew through the air made my head hurt and I tried to focus on what was going on. Quickly the serpent landed in Uncle Severus' hand. The metallic blue snake hissed a plethora of curses at the black haired man, glaring at him with her deep blue eyes. She didn't struggle, though, and was calm in Uncle Severus' hand. Idly the six inch snake slithered into a small coil. The tip of her tail swayed in the air while Saphyr gazed angrily at his captor. She locked her gaze with Uncle Severus' deep black eyes, and somehow through our minds a small breeze flitted by.

An eyebrow was raised at Saphyr and then Uncle Severus turned to Uncle Sirius and Mother. "It seems we have a little spy."

'Harry, what do we do?'

Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt Harry's grip on my arm tighten slightly. 'Don't worry for now, Saphyr can take care of herself.'

Uncle Sirius' face was now right in front of Saphyr. It was quite an uncomfortable experience to see his face up close like that. I could see wrinkles just beginning to form on his face along with various spots of slight discoloration. His eyes were widened by curiosity but I could see tiredness in them. The gaze was also slightly darkened by something I couldn't yet identify. Was it fear? Grief? Something worse? His voice brought me back out of my thoughts.

"I remember this little guy! I thought he was a necklace or something. He's very pretty."

Saphyr flicked her tongue at Uncle Sirius choosing to dismiss the man's incorrect guess of her gender, '_Of course I am 'pretty', ignorant human. What Jeweled Aqua wouldn't be?_' It was amusing how much Saphyr seemed to dislike humans yet cherished Harry to the point of ardent devotion.

Mother's curious gaze came into view as Uncle Sirius stepped back. "What is it?"

'_What do you think I am, fiery one? A cat?_' Saphyr's tail flicked around in the air, no longer swaying peacefully. Her hiss seemed to intensify, '_The ignorance of your species is despicable._'

Then Uncle Severus spoke up. "_She_ is a Jeweled Aqua, not a rare species, but uncommon to be seen as pets."

Saphyr looked up at Uncle Severus, '_I see I spoke too soon. The silent one, at least, deserves to be treated in a slightly higher regard than a speck of sand._'

"I think he's Harry's snake," Uncle Sirius said, somewhere above Uncle Severus sighed likely due to Uncle Sirius mistaking Saphyr for a male again, "We should give him back."

Uncle Severus looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. He stared at Saphyr with slightly narrowed eyes, questioning the serpent with his gaze. My pulse started to race as I thought he might be able to tell that Harry and I were there in Saphyr's mind, watching through her eyes. Harry's presence calmed me a little, but I could still feel a slight fear that Uncle Severus was staring through Saphyr and right at me. Uncle Severus soon looked away from Saphyr and started walking towards the hallway door.

My vision swam and a throbbing pain sliced through my consciousness as I slowly realized Harry had suddenly cut off the connection with Saphyr.

Harry's voice soon entered my mind, 'I'm sorry, Aster, I forgot you weren't used to the switch.'

My hands gripped my head as pain pulsed from behind my eyes and between my ears. I felt my knees hit the floor as I lost control over myself. 'It hurts, Harry…' All of my other thoughts jumbled together into a chaotic mess and confused me further. It was so hard to think, to concentrate or focus on anything. I clenched my eyes shut, not trusting that opening them wouldn't cause me even more pain. With each moment that passed by the pain seemed to lessen, though only just gradually.

From somewhere outside of the chaos within my mind I felt Harry wrap his arms around me. 'I know, Aster, I know. Just listen to my voice; focus on me. Don't pay attention to anything else. Focus all of your thoughts on me, just me.'

As I listened to Harry I noticed the pain was becoming tolerable. When I had focused back on the pain, however, it spiked back up again. Obediently I tuned out the pain and concentrated on only thinking about Harry. I thought about that Halloween night, Harry's red eye, seeing his painful memories, his scars, and everything else I knew about my other half, my twin brother. Outside of myself I thought I heard voices speaking but I averted my attention back onto Harry. In what seemed like forever and a moment, at the same time the pain dissipated and I was left relieved and sort of tired. My breathing came out in long deep breaths and I felt a lingering fatigue throughout my body even though I had only been sitting on the floor.

Slowly and tentatively I opened my eyes to find myself still wrapped in Harry's arms. We were still sitting on the floor in front of the now open door to the hallway. I wanted to smile at Harry but seeing Uncle Severus, Uncle Sirius, and Mother standing in the doorway made me cringe slightly. Mother and Uncle Sirius looked worried though Mother sent a few small glances at Harry every now and then. Uncle Severus was just staring at me in his I-can-see-right-through-you gaze that unnerved the heck out of me. After a moment I noticed my hands were still clutching my head and lowered them to my side, one arm ending up around Harry's shoulders.

Uncle Sirius was the first to speak. "Aster, are you okay?" He bent down and reached out for me but stopped himself. Harry had tightened his hold on me and was glaring at Uncle Sirius.

Mother went for a different approach. She kneeled down on the floor next to us and kept space between us. "Aster, are you all right?"

I nodded back at Mother, disentangling myself from Harry. "Yeah, I'm all better now. Just a little headache."

"Would it have anything to do with this?" Uncle Severus held out his hand, Saphyr still coiled on top of it.

My first reaction was to move to call out Saphyr's name but Harry stopped me with a preventive thought. Even though the communication was done telepathically something must have shown on my face as Uncle Severus did his ever-so-often eyebrow-raised expression at me. I remembered that Mother and Father used to always tell me that Parselmouths were bad people and that the talent was a Dark one. While I wasn't all too keen on following the ethics I was raised with anymore, the majority of people's reactions to snakes by themselves didn't create a pretty picture. I concluded that the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived and his twin have the ability to speak Parseltongue should be best kept secret.

I got to my feet and held my hands underneath Uncle Severus' outstretched one. Saphyr gracefully slithered from Uncle Severus' hand to my own and circled around my wrist while Harry had gotten to his feet behind me. Mother and Uncle Sirius soon followed his example.

With Harry's help I remembered to concentrate on speaking English before replying to Uncle Severus. "Her name's Saphyr. Isn't she cool?" I grinned at the older man, knowing full well that I had not answered his question. Just a few weeks ago I would never have imagined so openly defying an adult, however recent events were skewing many of my perceptions on my conduct with adults. Harry and I went to sit at the kitchen table.

Ever since I rescued Harry everything changed. Ever since I rescued Harry I felt a little more confident in my own decisions. Ever since I rescued Harry I felt that the 'good little robot savior' was gone now. Ever since I rescued Harry I felt _complete_.

It felt great.

Thankfully Uncle Severus decided not to press the issue of Saphyr and my 'headache'. He turned and stalked out of the kitchen muttering something about 'purchasing ingredients' and 'escaping insufferable children'. Even with his muttering I saw the furtive glance he had sent Mother and Uncle Sirius and saw Mother nod back at him. Mother and Uncle Sirius stood in the kitchen and the four of us stared at each other for a while, not knowing what to do next. My grin faded away and I wondered what was going to happen. Life was so unpredictable now.

Something caught Mother's eye and she stepped towards me. "Aster, may I see your pendant?" Wordlessly I nodded and handed her the Emergency Portkey pendant. She dangled the pendant from one hand, letting the diamond shaped jewel hang in the air. As she pointed her wand at it, she whispered something and a beam of light shot out and hit the pendant. Underneath the jewel of the pendant a misty list began to form, though a very short list. Home, Room, and Emergency made up the short list. Mother waved her wand across the word 'Home' and the address for Godric's Hollow appeared next to it. She replaced the address with the address of Uncle Severus' home and changed the address of 'Room' to be the same with the addition of 'Guest bedroom #3'. The 'Emergency' destination I knew to be St. Mungo's Hospital. Another flourish of Mother's wand and she was holding two pendants instead of one.

She handed both pendants to me and I gave Harry his. He looked at the pendant for a moment before placing the chain around his neck. As he admired the jewel on the pendant I examined my edited Portkey. Mother had gained her Mastery in Charms with this invention. It had an extendable chain, a customizable jewel, and the ability to catalog multiple destinations for transportation without a time constraint. Additionally it featured security settings and separate trigger words for the destinations which were also customizable. Inlaid into the chain were several charms set with runes designed for safety and preventing the loss or theft of the pendant. It had taken a good year for the Ministry to part with some of its Portkey laws to allow for the invention to be mass produced for the general public.

Uncle Sirius looked at the pendants and then at Mother. "You really are leaving James, aren't you Lily?" His gaze was soft and kind, and the smile on his lips was a sad one.

Mother nodded back at him, holding in the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. "I'll go get the forms now." Between her words I could hear the unspoken 'before I change my mind'. Anyone could tell that even with all of his faults Mother still loved my father no matter how much pain she endured because of it. Now, though, she realized that she loved her children more than she ever loved Father. Mother brushed away a stray tear as she looked over at Harry and me. "You should show them the library, Sirius, Aster will love it." Again there was a hidden message behind her words, 'and hopefully Harry will too'. She smiled at us before walking out the door through which I glimpsed Uncle Severus waiting for Mother. Some shopping he was doing.

'Severus is probably going to talk to Mother about what just happened. Mother telling Sirius to show us the library was merely her informing Sirius to distract us and keep us busy for now.'

I nodded in reply to Harry's statement. It no longer bothered me that Harry didn't call the other adults 'Uncle', but I did notice. He still called Mother 'Mother,' so that was good enough I supposed.

Uncle Sirius looked at me with a confused look upon his face when I nodded but didn't otherwise react. He opened the kitchen door, waving his arm in front of him as if he were a butler leading guests to their suite. "This way to the library," he said brightly. A smile lit up his face but he noticeably didn't look straight at Harry. It seemed like Harry's earlier protectiveness of me was personally affecting Uncle Sirius. I could see the false quality of his smile the same way I could tell when someone was lying to me. It just didn't look the same compared to when the expression was sincere.

Instances like this made having a photographic memory was cool, except for those horrific and gory memories that didn't want to go away.

Playing along I got off the chair and skipped to the door. "Let's go look, Harry!"

Harry softly smiled at my bright expression and stepped down off the chair in his ever-so-graceful way. Taking my hand in his, we followed Uncle Sirius down the hallway towards the library.

As we walked I could feel a thick cloud of tension growing between Uncle Sirius and my brother. Every now and then Uncle Sirius would glance back at us as if to say something, but would stop himself midway and sigh. Whenever he looked towards us he would inadvertently glance at Harry and his eyes watered just slightly. Seeing Uncle Sirius act that way just angered me. Why wouldn't the older man just _do _something instead of acting like such a coward? Why was he acting so depressed when he was also at fault? He should feel guilty, not the self-pity he was practically drowning himself in.

Deciding to be a little mean I turned to Harry. "I can't wait to see the library, Harry," my brother raised his eyebrow at me, sensing what I was trying to do, "I can teach you how to read!" Uncle Sirius winced ahead of me and I felt a small wave of satisfaction flow through me. If he felt so bad about Harry's situation why didn't _he _do something about it? Adults were so weird and confusing. I truly did want to teach Harry how to read, though. Books were so interesting and were what helped me find my brother.

"I already know how to read, Aster." The loving tone Harry added to my name made me smile. I was a little surprised Harry had verbally replied to me, but I guessed it was because he wouldn't want anyone to find out too much about our telepathic connection just yet. Then I registered what Harry said. Before I could be surprised he mentally added, 'Saphyr taught me how to read.' I couldn't quite imagine the serpent teaching Harry how to read but if Harry said Saphyr did it then I believed him.

'In that case I can't wait to show you all of the cool books.'

Harry smiled back at me. 'Okay then.'

Happily I found out the library was only a few doors down from the bedroom Harry and I were currently staying in. It had the classic two door entrance and I hoped the inside matched the classic idea of a library as well. As Uncle Sirius opened the doors I was delighted to find rows of bookshelves filled with hundreds, maybe thousands, of books. Just like the rest of the house, each bookshelf was labeled with small metal labels in various places. The shelves were labeled by genre and alphabetized by author. There were even individual labels on each of the books which stated its difficulty level. The difficulty levels were distinguished by numbers ranging from zero to ten. Right inside the library doors there was a small table with a guide to all of the labels.

Amusingly level zero was classified as 'Requiring minimal intelligence' and level ten was classified as 'Don't even attempt to read without extensive life experience and education'. The genres ranged from Potions, to Charms, to Not-So-Mythical Creatures, and even the Dark Arts. Alongside the Dark Arts genre listing, however, was a note that said, "Forbidden to those without consent; magically enforced".

As Harry went to sit in one of the cushioned chairs I happily bounced over to the bookshelves. I looked through the genres, skimming over the more academically-associated titles. I wanted to show Harry an _interesting_ book, not boring school stuff. Going down two or three rows of books I finally found something that looked cool. It was "Your Inner Animal" and was a thin book. The book's difficulty level was rated at level two so I thought it wouldn't be too difficult a read. Already flipping through the book I plopped down next to Harry in the large, comfortable chair.

Uncle Sirius had chosen to sit across from us and smiled at the book I had picked up. He didn't say anything though, just sat there and watched us. It looked like he was thinking about something, but I was more concerned with showing the book to Harry to care about Uncle Sirius right then.

"Look Harry," I pointed at various pages with pictures, "this book tells about your 'inner animal', or an animal you're really compatible with."

Gently Harry took the book from me and started reading it from page one. 'Aster,' the mental message abruptly caught my attention, 'what is an uncle?' He looked like he was completely absorbed in reading but I could tell that his eyes were just skimming over the words and not truly reading them.

For a while I was a little shocked, only just remembering that Harry didn't know what an uncle was. He never knew what a family was; nonetheless the different branches of one.

I thought back to yesterday…

'_So he's 'Uncle' Severus now?'_

'_Why not? He must be awesome if Father hates him.'_

Even though Harry went on to reply to my statement, I now realized he must not have known what I was talking about at all. Thinking for a moment, I went for the most basic definition I could think of.

'The term 'uncle' has multiple definitions depending on which context one is referring to. With a biological family, or strictly blood-related family, an uncle is the brother of one's mother or father. However there also exists a social family, or friends or acquaintances considered close enough to a person to be considered family. An uncle in that sense is also the 'brother' of one's mother or father but can be your mother's social brother or just an elder man one feels close enough to to claim as an uncle. The female equivalent is called an aunt.'

Harry smiled at me, 'You're very smart.'

I smiled back. 'I had to be.' Trying to find Harry had led me to Mother's letters, but in the beginning there were many words I didn't know yet. So I had learned to know the dictionary, almost constantly looking up various words to determine their meaning. It also led to my love of reading and the multiple times where I would get side tracked. There were many times I caught myself reading a book for pleasure when I had been trying to find Harry. It was one of the reasons it had taken me three years to find him and I sometimes hated myself for it. Harry's smile turned a little sad and made my guilt spike.

Looking down at the book I started reading some of it.

…_one's inner animal is not necessarily a strict representation of that person. Simply one could say that the inner animal is **one** representation of a person that is liable to change throughout that person's life. Various events can affect the personality, lifestyle, and basic attributes of a person and thus change that person's inner animal. When one undergoes a ritual, however, such as becoming an Animagus, one solidifies their inner animal into an actual real-life, physical representation of that animal. The relationship between the person and the inner animal then changes drastically. Instead of the person influencing the inner animal, the inner animal is then influencing the person, changing the person's personality into resembling the inner animal's personality. The two situations are not the same. When a person influences the inner animal, the animal can either change slightly or change completely into a different animal. When the inner animal is influencing the person, the person cannot change into a completely different animal but can reach a substantially similar point in the way that their personality is altered. The inner animal will no longer change no matter how different the person becomes later on in life. Also…_

Suddenly the page turned and I realized Harry had finished reading already. He started flipping through the pages before he reached a section of the book filled with questions. As Harry looked through the questions, I saw Harry clutch the book tighter ever so slightly. The book was raised a little closer to his face and I could tell his eyes weren't moving as quickly as they had before. I could feel myself tense as if something was going to explode at any moment. Following Harry's gaze I saw that he was staring at the word 'transcendence'.

'Harry…?'

'I'm fine, Aster. It's nothing.' Harry folded over the corner of the page slowly and carefully, with a deliberate caution that made me want to scream. He gave the book back to me. "I'll finish reading it later," he said aloud. The confident mask was still in place and obscured his true feelings. Silently I put the book away, telling myself to remember to talk to Harry later that night.

When I returned to the comfy chair I curled up next to Harry. "Harry, I'm tired again…"

"It's still morning, Aster," he replied, but wrapped his arms around me anyway. I couldn't see Uncle Sirius' reaction but I only thought about it for a moment before deciding I didn't really care. I might care later on in life, but not right now. Right now I wanted to lie next to my twin and remind myself that I wasn't alone anymore.

A swooshing sound filled the room and startled Harry and I into sitting up. Behind Uncle Sirius' chair was a fireplace I hadn't noticed before. What surprised us the most was that Uncle Severs' face was floating in it. The older man was only looking at Uncle Sirius when he said, "Sirius, there's a problem. Lily and I are at the Ministry." Without further ado his face vanished.

…that didn't sound good.

**Author's Note: **Just to let my readers know, the Wizarding Academy for Dramatic Arts does indeed exist in the canon universe of Harry Potter. It is mentioned in J. K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard and is not my own creation. While I am unsure as to whether or not dueling is considered a dramatic art in the canon Wizarding World, I am saying it is one. I apologize to all Flitwick fans but I do not believe in having the same teachers at one academy for so many years, at least not in this universe of Harry Potter.

Also, as I forgot to do so in my previous chapters, I deeply apologize to my older (not biologically – you know what I mean) readers. It took me many months to finally revisit this story, and I will offer no excuses for my absence. I will, however admit that it has been on my mind for equally as long to rewrite the initial chapters of this story as certain details were omitted that I later realized led to the confusion of some of my readers. I apologize for those who dislike rereading chapters, but I assure you it is worth it. This specific chapter had the fewest alterations to it, though I did go back and fix many simple mistakes (such as forgetting Saphyr is female, not male).

To my new readers, thank you so much for giving this story a chance and for reading this far.

–Sakura


	6. Family Loyalty

**Author's Note: **While I dislike how disruptive Author's Notes are, I must remind my readers from long ago to revisit the first few chapters if you have not already done so. I rewrote quite a few scenes and though this specific chapter holds a minimal amount of edits, future chapters will be confusing if you do not read the edited scenes in the first few chapters. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you enjoy Harry and Aster's journey.

-Family Loyalty-

Uncle Sirius didn't wait for Uncle Severus' face to disappear before springing into action. With quick movements I was only just barely able to follow; he took out his wand and conjured a cloak around himself as well as a regal looking cane. Father had one similar to it only it was the cane of the Potter family. This must have been the Black family's cane. A ring I only glanced at before was suddenly glaringly evident from its place on Uncle Sirius' right hand. The silver of the ring glistened in the light and its insignia seemed to sparkle. The words "Toujours Pur" rested within a metal ribbon under a shield with a sword on the shield lying perpendicular to the ribbon. Above the sword was an upside down 'V' looking thing with two stars above it. On either side of the shield a dog leant on it.

A bright flash blinded me momentarily and I searched for the source. Off to my side was a window and outside I noticed that the sun was starting to set. The setting rays were what struck my gaze moments before. Had it really been that long since breakfast? My sense of time was skewed and it took me a moment to get a hold of myself.

Looking away from the red-orange sun I took in Uncle Sirius' changed demeanor. He had shifted from the depressed older man to a confident younger-looking man in a moment. He stood straight and tall, with a small smile on his lips. His gaze looked like it saw and knew everything. His posture lacked its usual slack and laziness. He turned to Harry and me and held out his hand. "Let's go," he said and waited. Without answering Harry and I looked at each other, thinking about what we should do. My worry for Mother's safety won me over and I walked over to Uncle Sirius and put my hand in his.

I watched as Harry hesitated. With his gaze locked with mine he hid his uncertainty. Glancing around the room I could tell he didn't want to stay here on his own, but was uncomfortable with being taken somewhere unknown. It revealed to me just how much trust he placed in me the first time we met and I was a little baffled by it. What had I done for him to follow _me_ so easily?

While I wasn't paying attention, Harry walked up to me. He tentatively reached out and grasped my left arm before we were jerked alongside Uncle Sirius away from the house to the Ministry of Magic. The entire time Saphyr hissed out disgruntled complaints about humanity as a whole while I clenched my eyes shut trying not to throw up. Soon enough the magical trip was over. I slowly opened my eyes.

Darkness met my emerald and gold gaze. Harry had also clenched his eyes shut along the journey and was just now opening his crimson and emerald eyes. Uncle Sirius managed to stay perfectly composed throughout the entirety of the chaotic mode of transportation. I was kind of jealous but I'd never admit it out loud. That just wasn't cool.

Looking around us I realized Uncle Sirius transported us to a shadowed corner of the main entrance to the Ministry. To my right I could see huge hearths with the words 'Floo Transportation' above them. On the other side was a sectioned off area titled 'Apparition Entrance/Exit'. Out ahead of us there was a crowd encircling something. It reminded me of whenever I went somewhere except this time I wasn't in the center of that crowd.

Uncle Sirius conjured a couple of cloaks and placed one each on Harry and me. He pulled up the hoods and put his finger to his lips before leading us to the crowd. I could imagine the crowd watching some sort of concert but the professional clothing donned by the majority threw off the image. When we reached the crowd, Uncle Sirius strode through as if he owned the place. Amazingly the people before him parted, some not even looking to see who it was they were moving for. It was as if they could sense that someone important wanted to go through. Harry's and my small size allowed us to follow closely behind without being seen. I felt a little scared seeing so many strangers surround me without Mother, Uncle Remus, or Father there like usual.

We reached the center of the crowd at the moment I heard Mother practically snarl, "What did you just say?"

It made my skin crawl to hear Mother be so upset in public. Most times she preferred to control herself and let her anger show only when no one unrelated would be able to eavesdrop. She must have been furious to be that angry in such a public place like the Ministry. Looking past Uncle Sirius' leg I saw Mother standing next to Uncle Severus with her hand clenched around her wand and a pad of paper in her other hand. Uncle Severus had grasped her wand hand, not allowing her to lift the wooden weapon.

Opposite them were Dumbledore and my father (it was hard for me to even mentally acknowledge James as Harry's father when he so readily supported abandoning my brother a _second_ time). Dumbledore still looked like a stereotypical warlock but this time there was an added 'grandfatherly' look to him. I could immediately tell it was false by the lack of sincerity in his face and posture. Just beside his eyes I could see the slight strain of skin where the old man was trying not to glare. Next to his collar bone I could see the flexing muscle that meant his fist was clenched within his robe. I'd seen the same muscle flex whenever Mother saw that one particularly irritating neighbor we used to have. I also saw a prime example when Father saw Uncle Severus yesterday.

Speaking of Father, he had thrown subtlety to the wind. He was openly glaring at Uncle Severus and Mother. Within his expression I could see the moist film of restrained tears he was using to fuel his anger. I had never seen Father like this before and it scared me. Harry slipped his hand in mine and squeezed it. It made me feel a little better having Harry there. Father's eyes narrowed at Mother and a scowl contorted his face as he spat, "You were cheating on me all along weren't you? You've ripped apart the trust I had in you and now you want to take away my son! _I _should be the one raising Aster, not some disloyal witch!"

I knew my heart wasn't made of glass, but I swore it shattered within me as my father's words rushed through my ears. Father loved Mother more than anything, more than he even loved me or Harry. Why would he say something so untrue and hurtful? And in public? Dumbledore's hand on Father's shoulder appeared to be a tempting scapegoat for my glare; however I wanted to see what Mother was going to do.

Uncle Severus opened his mouth to reply but Mother cut him off. "What about _Harry_? Aster's _twin_?" A gasp erupted from the crowd and accompanying whispers and comments came forth as the crowd realized what Mother had said. While I was apprehensive about everyone knowing about Harry so soon, I was glad no one would think about Father's adulterous accusations anymore.

"A twin…?"

"Is she serious?"

"What is she talking about?"

As the murmurs and whispers grew, Father started looking a little nervous and Dumbledore gave him a deliberate look I couldn't interpret. Father suddenly yelled out, "Now you're going insane! Aster never had a twin!" If my heart shattered the first time I heard Father speak today, my soul chilled, cracked, and then shattered at these latest words. I felt despair and rage flow through me and Harry gripped my hand with a strength I hadn't known he possessed. Unbelievably Father continued his nonsense. "I _will_ get custody over Aster!"

Harry tightened his grip further as I tried to get free, but in the end I tore myself away from him and ran between the arguing pairs of adults. My hood had fallen off as I ran out of the crowd.

"What if I don't want you to?" I exclaimed.

The crowd's noise silenced as they took in my sudden appearance. If I could see myself I would have seen that my gold eye was glowing from within like a caged star from within my circle of scars. My eyes narrowed at the man I had once called my father.

The evil man tried to save himself as he warily glanced at the crowd. "Aster, what are you talking about? I'm your father!"

I spat on the ground. "You're no father of mine!" I relished in the shock, the widened eyes and the gaping mouth on the evil man's face. "How _dare_ you say Harry doesn't exist!" The cacophony of gossip rose again from the surrounding crowd, some starting discussions and debates. A wave of confusion, shock, and disbelief rang through the crowd. What seemed at first to be a juicy cat-fight between the Savior's parents had suddenly transformed into a suspense-filled plot-twist in the soap opera of the Boy-Who-Lived's life. I realized that it was these lifeless people that created 'evil' and 'good' people, twisting their opinions into 'truth' to the point that innocent children like my brother were sent to horrifying places.

I glanced over at Harry and my anger fled at the sight. Harry's hand was slightly outstretched in the same position as when I tore away from his grasp. My brother was perfectly still as he stared down at his hand. It started to shake slightly and he brought the hand closer to his body. Slowly he looked up and his eyes met mine. I couldn't tell if we had been staring at each other for two seconds or two hours when Harry suddenly shut his eyes. He hugged himself, stepping away as he shook his head. Slowly, he walked away before turning and running. A moment later he vanished mid-stride.

"_**Harry**_!"My shout once again silenced the lifeless crowd, their blind stares mindlessly following my gaze.

I reached out to where my brother used to be, ready to run before I thought better of it. Only just barely paying attention to what I was doing, I thought back to when Harry had transported us to the roof of the Potter house. A sickening feeling of pressure squashed me from all sides and I could feel something tugging me away. The last thing I saw before I disappeared was James Potter's distressed face.

'Harry…? Harry? Harry!' No matter how desperately I called, my twin wouldn't answer me. It was as if he had conjured his own door to his mind and shut it right in front of my face. I knew he was there -I could still feel our connection- but he wasn't _there_.

The moment I felt myself land in Uncle Sirius' house, I ran to the bedroom Harry and I were sharing. With each step I thought the hallways were lengthening and that I would never get to where I was going. Each door I passed looked exactly the same as the last and I swore I passed by the same window three times. After an eternity I reached the bedroom. At first the door was locked, but the second time I turned the knob it opened for me. As I had predicted, Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the floor. He was hunched over with his elbows on his thighs and his hands limply hung between his knees. From within the growing silence I heard Harry whisper, "I thought the orphanage was the worst place in the world."

For an eternity we were both frozen; Harry sitting on the bed and me standing in the doorway.

Drawing up all of the courage I possessed I opened my mouth to speak, "Harry, I'm-"

"You're what?" He spat back, now looking straight at me. "You're _sorry_? Sorry for what? You took me away from that awful place and I'm grateful for that. Everything even remotely 'happy' that has ever happened in my life has been because of you and I cherish that. Truly, I do. I just thought you wouldn't be the only one." Harry looked away and I saw his hands clench into fists. "Obviously I was wrong."

"Mother cares…"

Harry actually scoffed. "You really think so? She's trying, sure, but just yesterday she was ignoring my existence. I didn't want this, Aster! I didn't want to find out evil existed everywhere. I ignorantly thought the villain had been slain and that I'd get my happy ending." He sounded so distraught I felt my heart clench. Through a curtain of thick black bangs I saw tears streaming down my brother's cheeks. "And that 'Sirius' person who tries to act like he knows me… His actions infuriate me! He looks so depressed since I haven't given him the time of day. Where was he when he found out I went missing? Obviously he knew I existed. Where was he when a _nine year old_ showed up at my doorstep? Where was he when I wanted a family?" His grief-filled cry made tears fall down from my own eyes. I wanted to say something, _anything_ to make my brother feel better but nothing came to mind. I was speechless in the presence of his despair. "Even though I never knew what a mother or father was, I knew what a family was. It was something I thought I'd never have until I met you, Aster. I thought there would be _people_ who cared about me and not just you… I have no idea what's going on here."

Adrenaline still pumped through my veins and fueled my exhausted body. Gradually I was able to move my limbs and walk over to my brother. Slowly I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a hug. Just as slowly, Harry raised his arms to hug me back. Nothing else was spoken between us as we took comfort in each other. Harry's form jerked within my embrace as he started to hiccup. Soon after he started to sob, clutching me tighter.

I held my brother, reminiscing earlier that morning when it had been me sobbing in Harry's arms. I wondered if Harry had silently cried with me as I was now. For the first time I regretted taking my brother out of the orphanage. Instantly I banished the thought. Would Harry truly have been happier living in ignorance and suffering? While there were now a whole new set of challenges for him would it really have been better if he hadn't ever learned of them? Harry had me now and I swore to myself that I would support and care for my brother. Even if he hated me for complicating his life of pain I wouldn't leave his side. He didn't have anyone else right now and neither did I. Everyone saw me as the Boy-Who-Lived –not Aster– even Mother, and everyone saw Harry as either a possible threat to my life or someone who could get in my way. Uncle Severus and Uncle Sirius were also unnerved by my brother and his red eye, and I couldn't comprehend why.

Without realizing it, Harry and I had stopped crying and were just resting in each other's arms. Then I felt the recent events dragging on my bones. I slumped against Harry and noticed he was then doing the same. As we held each other up, I looked for Saphyr, looking for something to lighten my mood.

Saphyr was lounging in a bowl of water that had magically appeared on the bedside table. There was a mini island in the middle of the bowl and the mini foliage even swayed to a nonexistent breeze. If I wasn't mistaken, there were even mini birds flying around the island.

From within my mind I heard Harry softly raise his voice. 'Aster, what is the Boy-"

A deafening crack resonated throughout the house. Harry and I jolted to our feet and I took a defensive stance towards the doorway of the bedroom. Absently I noticed Harry had taken an offensive stance behind me. Step by tiny step I inched toward the doorway, wondering who had entered the building. From far away I could hear the murmurs of spoken words that sounded like Mother and the two uncles. I sighed a breath of relief but Harry's unrelenting tension kept me slightly on edge.

Soon enough Mother's voice called out, "The _nerve_ of that man!"

"It wasn't only Potter, Lily, Dumbledore was controlling him and you know that." Uncle Severus replied.

"But to even _suggest_ adultery! And to deny Harry's existence!" Harry and I left the bedroom, following Mother's voice to the library. The doors were left open but the adults were off to the side near the fireplace hidden by a few bookshelves.

I could just imagine Uncle Severus raising his eye brow as he said, "Need I remind you that _you_ were doing the same not even a full day ago?" Silence met his remark and I thought it would stretch forever. The fire crackled from within its hearth.

"But… I _didn't_ forget," Uncle Sirius whispered. If it wasn't for the deafening silence I doubt I would have heard him. His eyes were on the ground and the man was partially hunched over. A thin trail of tears was hidden by his black hair except for the drips falling off his chin. "I _knew_ Harry was somewhere, growing up without knowing he had people who cared about him. It was my idiotic foolishness that burned that letter, that last clue I had to Harry's whereabouts. I still searched all of the nearby orphanages but I gave up so easily! My search hadn't lasted a year before I let myself proclaim my mission impossible to complete. As you told us Lily, Aster spent _three_ _whole_ _years_ looking for Harry. All my life I've just been running away and now a child only nine years old has revealed what a pathetic excuse for a godfather I am."

Mother stood frozen in front of the hearth, staring at Uncle Sirius. "Oh, Sirius."

Uncle Severus, on the other hand, was harshly staring at Uncle Sirius with cold eyes.

Ignoring the reactions of those around him, Uncle Sirius continued, "Back when I was younger I found out one of my cousins was banished from the family and condemned her before finding out what happened. Even when I found out and realized the horrors of my family all I did was run away, too afraid to confront my parents. Aster found out he had a hidden brother and flew across the entire continent to retrieve him without a care as to why he was sent away! He came back and defied his parents, going so far as to _renounce_ his father in front of dozens of people!" Uncle Sirius shook his head sharply, banging his fist down on the arm of his chair. "The only thing I truly stopped running away from was Severus, but it took me tearing Remus' heart apart to realize it." The distraught man looked up at Mother. "I shouldn't be Harry's godfather."

A sharp crack rang through the library as Uncle Severus punched his lover in the face. I hadn't even seen the dark eyed man get out of his chair. Looking over at Uncle Sirius, I saw him clutch the left side of his face. Blood was starting to seep through his fingers and I winced at the sight. With a soft, yet intense whisper, Uncle Severus answered the unspoken question in Uncle Sirius' eyes.

"Get the _bloody hell_ over yourself."

Uncle Severus turned around and walked away with the last words, "I will go and fix the wards." His robes billowed after him swishingly and it looked really cool. As he passed Harry and me he gave us a reprimanding glance before stalking out of the library doors.

Looking over at Uncle Sirius and Mother, I noticed that Mother had healed Uncle Sirius and the blood was all gone now. There was still a bruise but Mother probably left it there on purpose. She used to do that with me whenever I ended up hurting myself after doing something I wasn't supposed to. Seeing that Uncle Severus hadn't called us out, I motioned for Harry to leave the library with me before we got caught.

As we were leaving I heard Uncle Sirius ask, "Lily, is Aster really the Boy-Who-Lived?"

My heart froze as I waited for Mother's reply. At my side I could feel Harry's questioning gaze boring into my face.

Unable to trust my body I moved only my eyes to watch Mother. She had turned away from Uncle Sirius, facing the fire. Her curtain of hair mirrored the blazing fire with its vibrant shade of red. I watched as her fingers gradually curled into a clenched fist, her whole arm shaking with the intensity of her grip. The front of her robes moved out and in, in time with her measured breaths. She clenched her fist tighter and tighter as her gaze moved from the fire to the floor, and gradually up to Uncle Sirius' face. As her eyes met his she relaxed her hand, her posture deflating with a sigh. In moments she looked away again, shaking her head just slightly.

Slowly the red haired woman spoke. "I don't know… not anymore."

Slamming open the library doors I ran back to the bedroom. No, no, no, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! No one could find out Harry was the real Boy-Who-Lived. They couldn't! Crazy people would come and hunt him down, obsessed fans would stalk him, and millions of other horrible scenarios flashed through my mind. Regardless of the fact that I had suffered through the same things and cared not to save myself, I couldn't let anything threaten my brother. Without him I imagined a life with no purpose; no meaning to survive. After focusing so much of my attention on trying to find Harry, I never really developed any other way to pass my time. I had no hobby, no favorite game or toy. For those past three years Harry _was_ my life. There was no outside life of fun and games; there wouldn't have been even if I didn't know about Harry with my status as the Boy-Who-Lived. But, if the _real_ Savior, my _twin_, was gone… It would be a betrayal of my promise to Harry and a condemnation of my existence. Who was I but a decoy? Who was I but a _fake_? What else was I but a nobody with the name of a somebody? What else was I but the figurehead of Harry's existence? I had to be the one to protect Harry from the attention, the rumors, the expectations, and everything else.

Bursting into the bedroom I began to pace, not able to resist a moment's glance at Saphyr's little island a quick distraction from by raging thoughts. The vain serpent had expanded his 'home' to a chain of islands, each with its own mini forest and even one with a small shed just large enough to fit Saphyr's coiled form. Next to the bed, the bedside table had expanded to fit the serpent's equally expanded bowl of water. There were even mini dolphins swimming around the islands.

As I paced I thought of how I could convince Mother and everyone else that _I _was the Boy-Who-Lived and not Harry. It was obvious Harry could already control his magic better than I could, but then again I never had to. I did have my photographic memory, but I was sure Mother would try to ask me to tell her what happened that Halloween night. What was I going to do?

"Aster, look at me." The harsh quality of Harry's voice stopped me in my tracks and I slowly turned to see my brother glaring at me from his place in the doorway. He softly shut the door, taking slow, deliberate steps towards me. His red and green eyes glared at me and I felt fear rush through my veins. The silver and gold on his blue shirt glistened off the lamp light and made his eyes seem to glow. There was no smile on his face; only a small, thin frown.

He stopped and stood in front of me, taking a few moments to close his eyes and take a deep breath. As his eyes reopened I found my gaze locked with his, unable to look away. "Tell me, what is the 'Boy-Who-Lived'?"


	7. Distilled Bluebird Tears

As Harry glared at me I thought frantically over how to reply. No one ever looked at me so angrily before and it scared me, especially since it was my twin looking at me that way. I cursed at myself the longer I searched for something to say, incredulous at how speechless I was. I anxiously wanted to dissipate my brother's anger and make him happy again. How could he not be angry, though? For the past couple of days all Harry had been hearing from the adults was the Boy-Who-Lived this and the Boy-Who-Lived that and things about him being a threat to me and my future. If I were him I would've confronted myself hours ago if not earlier.

With each passing moment my worries and fears grew that Harry's anger was growing just as much. I didn't want to keep him waiting much longer, even if in reality it had only been moments since he had asked. Desperate, I stopped scrambling for words and opted to use our mental connection and hope I could send my memory of that night over to my brother. Concentrating, I felt a weird tingling sensation throughout my mind as I opened up my connection to Harry. I could almost imagine the memory flowing like water between us.

The moment I felt the memory reach Harry, it was like I was sucked into a video played in fast forward. The scenes of the Halloween night flashed by, sometimes slowing down at certain scenes. Suddenly details I hadn't paid attention to before seemed more apparent and noticeable.

..._ the nursery door blast open, a block of wood knocking Mother unconscious. Blood started to flow from her skull, deepening the red of her hair…_

… _through a clear window a bright full moon shone through the dark clouds, illuminating the room around me. The rays of the moon fell softly on the old fashioned wooden crib I sat in. The baby next to me was like my carbon copy; he had the same green eyes, the same black hair…_

… _our hands were grasping each other's, as if sensing the events to come. As I felt tears gather at my eyes, I could still see the figure of my twin clearly, the other infant unnaturally calm at my side…_

… _a piercing laugh rang through the night. The dark figure that walked into the room oozed of danger and darkness that chilled me to the bone even just remembering it. Those red eyes looked all too similar to Harry's red eye but had a monstrous quality to them; an insane sort of darkness…_

… _an equally timid voice arose from the second invader's mouth. "They were born attached at the head my Lord… one more powerful than the other…" _

… _a scoff, "neither of them will be a threat to me soon enough." The voice was filled with curiosity but tainted with hate. An almost jealous zeal flashed through the invader's red, serpentine eyes…_

… _a pale, graceful hand lifted an equally pale wand into the air…_

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

Stumbling back into reality I fell back onto the bed, disoriented by the mental experience. I held onto my head, the left area of my mind throbbing painfully. My eyes were shut and I was unaware of what my brother was doing. All I was aware of was pain that felt all too familiar to when that night actually happened. For a second it felt like my left eye had ignited and the very heat decided to sear my consciousness. Somewhere within my jumbled thoughts I could still feel Harry's mental presence, and only vaguely wondered if he felt the same, before the pain suddenly spiked and just as suddenly vanished a moment later.

As the bedroom came back into focus, I noticed Harry was leaning against the shirt cupboard holding the right side of his head. His eyes were closed and he was slightly trembling. Deep breaths filled his lungs and escaped through his mouth as he forced himself to calm down. Harry slowly opened his eyes to look at me through his thick, black bangs. A small bead of sweat traveled from his brow down to his cheek, causing me to realize I had begun to sweat as well. The anger that had previously occupied my brother's gaze had fled, replaced by a frustrated sense of being just on the brink of the kind of understanding that would only inspire more questions to arise. The green and red orbs were no longer narrowed yet were far from reassuring or kind.

"What does it all mean?" My bewildered twin asked, the closest he had come to admitting his complete ignorance of his own past. The hand supporting Harry's weight upon the cupboard clenched into a fist, his other hand clutched his unruly hair.

My mind, while no longer in pain, still had not regained its full capacity for thought and I struggled to form a reply. Simplicity won against the strain of thinking and I said, "The Evil Guy tried to kill you, but you survived. You _Lived_."

"We _both_ did," Harry shot back at me, not able to comprehend the novelty the rest of the Wizarding World had obsessed over for the past eight years.

I didn't truly understand Harry's logic. He was the one hit with the killing curse, after all. Though I guess I did get a scar and that weird thing with the light… "Either way everyone else thinks I was the one that Lived and beat The Evil Guy, but you were the one he shot the curse at. It's never failed before. You're-" at a look from Harry I said, "_We're_ the first to survive it."

"How would they know?" Harry asked and I was just as oblivious as to how I was chosen to be the Boy-Who-Lived. The question plagued my mind countless nights after discovering my abandoned brother. No matter how many times I replayed the memory within my mind and compared my appearance to Harry's when I was younger, I was left uncertain and incredulous as to how anyone could see any profound mark or difference between us. The respective color and shape of our eyes and scars shouldn't have been any kind of discerning factor that could reveal what had happened that night. Speechless I could only watch my twin break down. Both of Harry's hands now clutched his hair as he shook his head. "It just doesn't make sense…"

Harry looked back up at me, his exhausted frustration at its peak. "What was the _point_? What did throwing me away _do_? How in the _world_ could my existence be so harmful?"

"_I don't know,_ okay?" I yelled back, unable to control myself any longer. My throat burned and my next words could only come out in a whisper. "I just _don't know_." Harry was silent, stunned that I had yelled back at him that way. I was surprised that I had done that myself. We stared at each other, riled by pain, confusion, frustration, and grief. So much was happening so soon and I thought I would collapse right then and there. Questions streaming through my mind kept me alert, wondering what happened after that Halloween night. All of the who's, what's, when's, and where's flooded my thoughts and I almost left me unaware of my surroundings.

A feminine voice cut through the terse silence. "It was your eye." Harry whipped around and I felt my neck crack with the speed of my gaze snapping to the doorway. Mother was standing there, looking Harry straight in the eye. "It looked so much like the Dark Lord's eye so-"

"That's _**it**_?" The steely clipped tone of Harry's voice would have given me a heart attack if my own anger and shock hadn't already gripped me. Our connection seemed to pulse with our shared disbelief and fury as Harry continued. "Something as insignificant as the appearance of an _eye_ convinced you to forsake your own child?"

Mother flinched. "I made a mistake and I know that," she said, her voice steady though her hands shook and fidgeted, "at the time I was still so shocked that Voldemort had attacked Aster. I was still paranoid that something else would go wrong and destroy this family that I believed Dumbledore when he said you were possessed."

'_Possessed?' _An intense wave of emotion flooded through my link with Harry and I struggled to stay on my feet. All of my instincts begged me to scream, cry, and curl up into a ball all at once. I wanted to destroy everything around me yet at the same time wanted to run away. In the distance of my mind I started to hear that horrid melody of children singing…

"_Red eye, red eye… Green eye, green eye… Hit him once, hit him twice…"_

Frantically I dispersed all of the foreign feelings and made the horrible memories of Harry's past go away. It took a good amount of will power to suppress the gasp for air that threatened to burst from my lungs.

Then, a realization dawned on me; Mother hadn't overheard how _both_ Harry and I were attacked, Harry being the main target. I didn't want people to find out Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry, sensing my relief sent me a questioning look and immediate memories of zealous fans, both harmfully obsessive and creepily worshipful, were sent to my twin before I realized it, all they while saying 'I want to protect you from this.' This 'memory transfer' was just as disorienting as the last.

My brother rushed over to catch me as I began to fall, saving me from a rather potentially harmful collision with Saphyr's little oasis. Somewhere in the realm of reality I could hear Harry asking something about "being possessed" to Mother. I didn't see or hear Mother's response since my eyes had already drifted shut and my mind was heading to La La Land. All I was aware of was the feeling of being slightly dragged to the bed before everything vanished.

This night there was no joint 'La La Land' session as there had been the night before. Harry was probably still awake during the time I drifted deeply asleep. I dreamt about my flight over Britain to find Harry and marveled at the scenery I only partially paid attention to at the time. The bright lights of Muggle society compared to the hidden, softer lights of the Magical world painted a beautiful canvas of varying blues, blacks, and golds. It reminded me of Harry's favorite colors and I could see why my brother favored those colors. The colors meshed and clashed spectacularly and almost blended perfectly with the nighttime horizon of the moon and stars. I could almost feel the cool, rushing breeze of flying swiftly through the air. I dreaded the inevitable return to the chaos of reality.

All too soon the dream ended and my mismatched eyes met the dark blue expanse of the ceiling. I could picture the night sky traveling across the ceiling, dark, puffy clouds roaming over the twinkling stars, but shook myself awake. The freezing kiss of Saphyr's tongue licking my cheek effectively jolted me completely awake. Saphyr hissed unpleasantly as he fell off my arm and landed somewhat roughly onto the bed beside me.

"_Master's kin is so rude._" I wanted to laugh at being scolded by a small serpent but stopped myself. Insulting Saphyr further might not be in my best interests, especially since I didn't know if she was poisonous or not.

Instead I opted for respect. "_I'm sorry, Saphyr, I was a little surprised. Did you need something?_" The urge to ask where Harry was simmered on the tip of my tongue, but I held it in.

The snake lifted her head, peering at me through her vibrant sapphire eyes. Seeing her eyes made me want to call Saphyr 'sapphire' as a possible nickname. Did snakes like nicknames though? Either way Saphyr looked like the kind of snake that liked 'fear' in her name, (her name being pronounced suh-fear), if only just to be slightly intimidating. "_Master wished for me to inform you that he went to eat without you so as not to disturb your rest. He apologizes for leaving you alone._"

I began to nod in reply before stopping myself. "_Is he okay, Saphyr? What happened while I was asleep?"_

Saphyr paused before saying, "_Master spoke with the fiery one before leaving the room with her. I was unable to follow as Master shut the door behind him."_ The snake almost seemed apologetic as she looked away.

"_It's okay Saphyr." _I would have to swallow my disappointment and wait to ask Harry later.Seeing Saphyr still sulking made me want to cheer the serpent up. _"You speak so eloquently, where'd you learn how to speak like that?_"

If snakes could look affronted Saphyr certainly did, but she diverted her attention away from her previously melancholy mood. "_Every Jeweled Aqua is born with a sufficient amount of intelligence. I passed on as much to Master while he grew._" This last was said with a little bit of pride, the serpent rising up a little higher in the air.

I still had trouble imagining the blue serpent teaching Harry how to read, write, and speak properly, but it happened somehow. Obviously Harry possessed a natural analytical ability to take context clues and understand the vocabulary and other such written and spoken things he didn't know. It amazed me that while I knew I was intelligent myself, I wasn't as mentally talented.

Gently lifting Saphyr onto my shoulder, I let her swim in the bath while I freshened up. The serpent loved the warm water since her Oasis, as I have now officially dubbed her little collection of islands, only had cool water. I was a little upset I didn't get to wear twin clothing with Harry today, as I didn't know what he had chosen to wear, but didn't really want to bother him through our minds to ask something so potentially embarrassing. Choosing not to dwell on it, I found a shirt depicting a black forest with a deep green background and a large, proud wolf venturing out of the trees. Its eyes were a striking red that stood out along with the canine's bright, white fangs. It looked really cool and somehow reminded me of Harry.

I chose plain blue jeans to go with the shirt and tried to fix my mass of hair. The black strands always wanted to go wherever they wanted to without my consent. It was by no means tangled, as I could run my fingers through my hair just fine, but there wasn't any sort of order or design to it. The random chaos on top of my head slightly frustrated me every morning but I had long since learned how to deal with it and move on with my life. Today I had even less patience with my hair since I wanted to talk to Harry as soon as possible.

Remembering to get Saphyr and drain the bathtub, I left the bedroom to find everyone else. I hadn't realized how lonely it would be just walking from one room to another by myself. I did have Saphyr, but for all my life there was always someone at my side or at least a short distance away monitoring my every move and keeping me safe. It felt somewhat awkward to be trusted on my own even if only with the short distance of the bedroom to the kitchen. Before, there was always the lingering threat of someone or something somehow venturing inside and harming me. I was lonely while at the same time happy I was free to live life normally even just inside these walls.

When I reached the kitchen I was met with the surprising sight of Harry speaking with Uncle Severus, Uncle Sirius, and Mother. I was able to register Harry's message, "I was telling them an edited version of my life at the orphanage," before Mother grasped me in an embrace.

"Thank you for saving him," she whispered in my ear. When she pulled away I saw her clench her eyes shut, quickly swiping at a tiny tear. "I'm through with crying," she said, "it won't do any good." At the table behind her Uncle Severus and Uncle Sirius nodded in agreement, though Uncle Sirius had his fist clenched at his side.

Harry looked understandably uncomfortable sitting at the table in front of the two uncles, the scene looking all too similar to that of an interrogation. Both of the older men looked like they wanted to ask more about what had happened to Harry and how much revenge needed to be served. I had seen Uncle Remus and Potter look similarly when they were being told of a Death Eater attack that happened to one of their friends.

I should have guessed Mother would be the one brave enough to actually confront Harry. She stood up and faced Harry while she asked, "Are you sure you don't want to tell us anything else?"

Harry nodded. "I was feared and hated, I was bullied and ridiculed, I was never truly happy, and that's all you need to know for now."

It was clearly obvious none of the adults were okay with that answer but knew not to press for more. Not quite able to take the tension anymore, I happily plopped into the chair next to Harry and said, "What's for breakfast? I'm starving."

The adults were speechless for a few moments before Uncle Sirius took a deep breath and smiled brilliantly. "Well kiddo, let's get you something to eat."

Soon enough I was served a full plate of toast, bacon, and eggs. Digging in, I smiled to myself watching Harry speak with the adults. Even though the conversation had shifted over to simpler topics like favorite color or favorite animal, it was awesome seeing Mother smile so happily at Harry. Uncle Severus probably looked the same no matter whom he spoke with, with his calculating gaze and cautious emotions. Uncle Sirius was normal again, acting like his normal, bubbly, cheerfully random self. The happiness was only superficial, though. I knew that it was all just an act; that Mother was powerfully suppressing tears, that Uncle Severus' eyes held a tinge of pity, regret, and fury, that Uncle Sirius had both fists clenched under the table so tightly his arms shook just a little bit noticeably.

Just when another silence was about to draw out, Saphyr slithered down my arm onto the table so he could coil around Harry's wrist on top of the table. Uncle Severus looked at the creature and asked, "Where did you get that Jeweled Aqua?"

Looking over at Harry I made sure I paid attention, my gaze probably revealing my curiosity just as obviously as with everyone else's. I had to remind myself to pay attention to eating as well though, or else I might spill all over myself.

Harry softly smiled down at Saphyr, petting her shiny scales. "I found Saphyr in a puddle near the orphanage. There had been a flood the night before that carried her in from the ocean." Everyone's eyes turned toward the serpent, watching as the morning rays of sunlight sparkled on his scales. The blue of Saphyr's scales was a perfect mix of deep blue and sky blue, taking an almost periwinkle color. The vain little snake seemed to bask in the attention, hissing fiercely when a knock on the front door destroyed her spotlight.

Uncle Severus swiftly, yet gracefully, left the kitchen to answer the door. I turned to Mother fearfully, wondering what kind of stranger it would be this time. Mother returned my silent question with a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Aster, it's only Severus' student."

"His student?" I asked, I thought he wasn't working at Hogwarts yet.

Uncle Sirius jumped into the conversation, "Sev is a tutor; he teaches Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, but most ask for Potions since he's a Potions Master and all that." I marveled at the renewed sparkles in Uncle Sirius' eyes, not realizing just how bright they were until they had been darkened by frustration and despair. "His students are usually pureblood too. The half blood parents think that it's disrespectful to the muggleborns if they get a head start on their magical schooling, even though it's only theory." Uncle Sirius' words were emphasized with rolled eyes and a wave of his hand. "Wanna go see who his student is today?" he asked Harry and me, winking over at Mother.

Mother lightly laughed at her friend's antics, moving to the cupboard that said 'Wine' while discreetly dabbing at her eyes.

Taking Mother's and our silence as an agreement, Uncle Sirius tip-toed over to the hallway door, raising his knees high into the air and lowering his feet down to the floor dramatically. He cracked the door open far enough so all three of us could see into the front room. At the front door was a young man with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes. He seemed only a year or two older than I was physically, but carried himself as if he was ten years older. I could immediately tell he was pureblood from the cut of his perfectly clean robes, the shine of his non-scuffed shoes, and the delicate quality of his face and skin. His expression, however, was uncharacteristically flushed with a timid nervousness that bordered on fear.

"Good morning, Mr. Montague," Uncle Severus greeted the stranger, stepping away from the threshold as an open invitation to enter the house.

Montague stepped inside the house, trying to look Uncle Severus in the face and failing miserably. "Good morning, Mr. Snape. I didn't know if you wanted to cancel my lesson or not due to recent events…" As he fidgeted under Uncle Severus' gaze, I noticed he was holding a textbook with a bag slung over one shoulder. The book was titled _The Affects and Defects of Potions_ and looked brand new except for the various uniformly shaped pieces of paper sticking out every few pages or so. One of the papers clearly said 'Herbs' while the others were harder to decipher. I couldn't imagine doing anything to deface a book other than lightly folding over the corner. All of those little papers sticking out of the textbook made me want to run over and pull them all out so the book looked like a book instead of looking like a folder.

Seeing his student's nervousness, Uncle Severus predictably raised his eyebrow at his student and said, "I would not suspend your tutoring for mere personal events. Cease your fidgeting."

Amusingly, Montague snapped straight, tall, and still. "Of course, sir," he replied, "shall we go to the labs then?"

The taller man nodded in reply, leading the pureblood to a door on the opposite side of the room from where Uncle Sirius, Harry and I were. Before disappearing through the door Uncle Severus pointedly glared at us and then waved his wand at the door.

Uncle Sirius cursed, "So much for hoping to crash the lesson, then."

"What are Potions?" Harry asked.

Even though Harry's gaze was locked on the door Uncle Sirius's face lit up as if he had just been addressed by the Queen herself. I could imagine Uncle Sirius on a grand stage as he answered Harry's question. "Potions is one of the core subjects in Wizarding education," he began, "which combines the knowledge of plants, or Herbology, with methods similar to cooking in order to create mixtures that can heal wounds, cause obsession, bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death." He ended with a ridiculous impression of Uncle Severus; his nose was pointed to the ceiling while he blankly stared down at Harry and me sideways. The last few words were whispered loudly in an attempt at inspiring suspense. Harry, still not looking at Uncle Sirius, only nodded. Uncle Sirius instantly deflated, a forced smile stretching across his face.

A few moments passed as Harry remained silent. I could practically see the thoughts whirling around behind Uncle Sirius' eyes. He stood there in front of us, silently suffering within his mind. His mouth twitched and he tried to think of something to say that would kill the awkwardness suffocating his usually vibrant personality.

Something within me refused to help him out even though I knew I should interject with some sort of joke to lighten the mood. Uncle Sirius was obviously clueless over what to do. Even as I watched him start to fidget fretfully I repressed the urge to smirk, wondering where these feelings were coming from.

_Ding ding ding!_ _Dong ding dong! _

A mini cacophony of tinkling music erupted from beneath Uncle Sirius' sleeve. He jumped slightly, quickly pulling back the sleeve to reveal an oddly shaped watch. Five different watch faces were wrapped around his wrist with a minimal amount of the wristband showing. Each watch face had a different design, only one of them actually containing the time. The green watch face was the one that was making all of the noise. The image of a plant was poking out of it. Little lights were flashing around the image with tiny music notes floating around it as well.

A tap of the wand silenced the contraption, the image sinking down into the watch face. "Floppy-wanded-Dementor-buggerer*, I almost forgot!" Uncle Sirius exclaimed, "I need to water that one orange-striped plant with the distilled bluebird's tears after pruning the dead leaves off with the thorns of black roses before… Wait, what was that song that I had to sing to it? Damn Potions Masters and their bloody plants, I swear I–" He rushed out of the door in a flurry of robes and muttered curses, leaving us alone and leaving me slightly confused.

Ever the composed one, Harry merely turned to me and said, "Let's go to the library," before walking off down the hallway.

"What about Mother?" I asked. I went over to the kitchen door, peeking past the crack to look inside. Mother sat at the table with one hand wrapped around a glass and the other writing smoothly with a quill. As always her writing hand was steady and fluid as she wrote, even as the glass shook slightly in her other hand. Dried tracks of tears were fading from her face and she seemed calm, if still a bit shaken by her discovery of a bit of Harry's past in the orphanage. Her owl was perched on the back of the chair next to hers, the bird appearing to be reading the letter Mother was writing with its head tilted to the side.

I softly shut the door, deciding to head to the library with Harry.

The trip to the library was a short and plain one. I plopped down into one of the comfy armchairs, wondering what Harry wanted here. My brother walked down the aisles as if he were just browsing, but I could tell he was looking for something.

"What're you looking for Harry?" I asked. After much mental deliberation, I dragged myself off the armchair and went to see what Harry was looking at.

Harry kept walking through the aisles of books. "Where is the dictionary?"

I stopped and turned to look at my brother. "Why do you want the dictionary? That thing is so boring to read." I appreciated the text, I truly did, but its position on my fun-things-to-read list was quite honestly closer to the bottom. Harry gave me a short glance before looking through the shelves again. "It'll probably be in the Muggle section anyway." Another look. "Muggles are people without magic." I remembered defining Muggles to my brother at least once previously, though he didn't have my memory so it made sense that he didn't remember.

"And where may I find the Muggle section?" Harry sounded like one of those pureblood ladies Mother knew and I tried not to laugh at the image of Harry in aristocratic female robes.

Trying out a trick that I used to do back in the Potter library, I snapped my fingers before saying, "Index." For a moment nothing happened and I felt my face begin to flush in embarrassment before the Black Library Index appeared in front of me. Ignoring whatever look Harry was giving me, I flipped over to the list of sections. "Muggle newspapers, novels, etc. are in aisle nineteen, on shelf number four across from the Pureblood Etiquette manuals."

Soon enough we were back in the armchairs. Harry had his dictionary and I took out one of the etiquette manuals. I looked over my manual at Harry, watching his eyes roam across the pages of the dictionary. "Are you actually reading that for real?" How could anyone just straight out read a dictionary?

"No, my eyes are just looking at the letters while I flip through the pages…" I think that was the first time I heard Harry speak with such thick sarcasm. "It was the only thing I had to read in the orphanage that was completely intact. I was in the middle of the R's when I left." He pointedly turned a page and went back to reading.

I mirrored my brother, continuing to read the Pureblood Etiquette manual. It was actually kind of interesting, but still boring for the most part. One could only handle the eccentricities of the aristocracy for so long, after all. My eyes gradually began to drift across the words nonsensically and my hands turned the pages automatically. Before long I started to curl up in the huge, comfy armchair. As my eyes slowly shut I saw Harry smile fondly at me. Tiredly, I tried to smile back, but by then I was already asleep.


	8. Half of the World

The moment Aster's eyes closed shut Harry's smile vanished. His dual-colored eyes roamed across his brother's face, searching for signs that Aster was still awake. He turned to Saphyr, "_Thank you."_ The snake only nodded in reply, slithering from its place behind Aster's neck. If one looked for it they could see tiny twin puncture wounds on the side of the sleeping boy's neck. After a moment Harry looked back down at the dictionary, but was no longer actively reading. His eyes were unfocused as his thoughts flew around inside his mind. Everything was happening more or less how he thought it would except for one exception: Aster. This vibrant sibling of his was so unpredictable at times and he loathed admitting why. It was a concession on his part to even consider he had been wrong much less actively admit he had been completely incorrect. The fact remained that Harry had minimal to no experience with normal children and thus had no way to know what Aster would say or do in respect to his actions or of those around him. In retrospect, Aster was a little mature for his age and most times acted the way Harry thought he would.

All in all, it obviously livened up his previously dull life and sometimes Harry wondered if Aster was what a 'normal child' was like before squashing the thought. Such speculations were a waste of time. Though Aster remained an anomaly, the conduct of the adults around them maintained a predictable pattern that Harry could navigate. The pathetic predictability and easy prey to simple manipulations threatened to return Harry to boredom. Luckily his every-loyal brother would keep him entertained.

Three years ago when Harry woke up with a throbbing headache he never thought it would lead him to freedom. That headache was different from others he had before; it felt like the pain was stretching out from the very depths of his mind. Stumbling to the bathroom, Harry almost tripped and quickly grasped onto the edges of the sink. After he looked up he almost fell back in shock. His green eye was gold and he could hear an audible gasp resound from within his mind. At this time Harry was no stranger to the oddities surrounding his life and he quickly understood that someone had invaded the private sanctuary of his mind.

To discover the invader was his twin wasn't too much of a surprise, but Harry was surprised at how… unlearned Aster was of the world to so single mindedly vow himself to saving him from his less than humble abode. He had yet to learn of the word naive, but when he did Harry knew it represented Aster completely. During his time in the orphanage the red-eyed boy felt confident that he knew the darker ways of humanity already and that such blind faith in the goodness of the world was folly. Thinking in this way, Harry started planning on ways to manipulate his brother, if Aster really was his brother at all.

Harry didn't feel bad about the idea of lying to Aster at all, even after Aster actually showed up to take him away from the orphanage. In fact, the event of Aster showing up supported Harry's justifications about maneuvering his brother's actions to suit his purposes. He wanted every assurance that Aster would never leave him, and never want to. While he was reluctant to admit it, Harry needed Aster. Aster was the only one to ever come through on a promise to him, and to truly care about his wellbeing. Aster was the only one who could make Harry feel _alive_. Harry didn't want to lose that. Ever.

That was why when Aster arrived at the orphanage Harry made sure one of his allies was waiting at the door. More like only ally, Sally, but he wasn't concerning himself over the details. Saphyr notified him ahead of time that someone who looked like him was heading toward the facility, and Harry sent the little girl to wait at the door for whoever arrived. He correctly predicted that the other children would inform Aster about the 'haunted hallway', though it was an honest gamble of whether or not his brother would venture that way. It helped that Sally readily agreed to do whatever Harry asked of her and played her part well, leading Aster right to Harry's room and avoiding all other occupants of the orphanage. She even assisted in burning down the orphanage. If everything went as planned she should have been the only one to survive and thus the only 'reliable' source of information as to what happened to the orphanage. None of the other inhabitants, malicious or not, could contradict her words.

Contrary to what Harry led Aster to believe, not everyone in the orphanage was out to harm him nor was the entire staff incompetent. There was a working, sizeable staff at the orphanage, and a good portion of the orphanage merely ignored him. Yet there were enough fearful, violent children and many easily flocked to side with the 'righteous purifiers' that Harry's life at the orphanage quickly became unbearable.

What Harry now knew was his magic had destroyed the corridor Aster walked down and none of the staff had been able to repair it. It suited Harry's purposes well, allowing him to paint the illusion that the orphanage was horribly run down and that no one cared about it. The orphanage was horrible to live at –cheap food, hand-me-down clothing, decades-old furniture– but it wasn't as bad as Harry let Aster think it was, even if Aster found out he let the others think he 'died'. The other half of the orphanage was adequately furnished, and could actually look pretty if one took the time to clean it up. There were children's books and tiny toys throughout the other half of the orphanage as well, but all of that half was the half Harry didn't allow Aster to see. It also helped that Aster got to listen to the childish prejudices and ridiculous ruminations of the other orphans and quickly brought Aster closer to his side. Thinking about it that way made it seem like Harry did something wrong, but in his point of view that was how humans learned. Someone showed them one half of the world, and they believed in and knew nothing else until they discovered or someone showed them the other half.

Thinking back Harry remembered his 'talk' with Lily…

_Aster fainted from exhaustion after sharing memories of crazed fans with Harry, mentally mentioning his wish to protect his newfound brother. He caught his brother, and laid Aster in his bed before turning to face Lily. In the recesses of his mind, he didn't have to pay lip service to Aster and call the woman "Mother". At the moment it looked like she fully participated in throwing him away, no matter how much she regretted it later on. Assessing her appearance, the fiery haired woman looked to be slightly inebriated and thus not as in control of herself._

_Perfect._

_Closing his eyes to rid them of any sort of calculating glint he gave a show of clenching his fist. "What do you mean, possessed?" he spat, his eyes now emitting an icy glare. He quickly raised an open hand and shook his head. "Wait, let us leave Aster to sleep peacefully," he said, smoothly striding past Lily and leaving the room._

_The trek to the dining room was as quiet as Harry expected it to be. The sounds of his sock-clad footsteps on the carpet were echoed by the louder, shifting shuffles of Lily's slightly drunken movements. Behind him he could hear Lily's soft sniffles and felt her gaze upon his back. It was a feeling he felt often at the orphanage, but this time it was different. It was almost odd to sense the lack of any sort of hate or fear in her gaze. It was a sad thought that Harry expected such feelings, though they were the only ones he had been associated with in the past aside from Sally at the orphanage._

_By accident Harry left Saphyr back in the bedroom, so he couldn't find out where Sirius and Severus were. If he estimated correctly Severus would be done with the wards by now and consoling Sirius in the library. That gave him about at least an hour to talk with Lily before the 'uncles' came to look for her. He slightly lengthened his pace as he saw the dining room door up ahead. Every second not used productively was one less opportunity later._

_When they reached the dining room he held the door open for Lily, not trusting her to not hurt herself. He even went so far as to help her into her chair, sliding her the half-filled glass and wine bottle already on the table. Harry sat straight across from Lily, clasping his hands in front of him on the table._

"_What did you mean by possessed?" he asked, sitting straight in his chair. Lily was slouching slightly, giving the impression that Harry was taller than her. Harry could tell that in her drunken state Lily felt the full affect of his actions. She seemed to shrink into herself further before catching herself and shaking her head._

_Nursing her glass of wine, Lily stared into the red liquid as if the answer would swirl to the top of the glass. Harry stared at her and watched her breathe deeply to gather her courage. It seemed unbearably frightening for her to explain to her son why she had so heartlessly abandoned him. _

"_Your eye," she muttered into her glass, refusing to look up at Harry, "the red one… it looks like the eye of You-Know-Who…"_

"_Forgive me, but I believe I do _not_ know who," he interrupted sharply, narrowing his eyes at Lily. So far he heard this 'Evil Guy', as Aster called him, go by Voldemort, the Dark Lord, and now You-Know-Who. All of this ambiguity was irritating him immensely. Why was it that no one ever seemed to want to give him a straight, clear answer except for Aster?_

_Lily winced at the biting tone in Harry's voice. Glancing upward she suppressed another wince as the look in Harry's eyes matched his tone. She took a sip of her wine before explaining, "You-Know-Who is the… moniker of the Dark Lord Voldemort. He was the most powerful Dark Lord the Wizarding World had seen for decades, his rise to power spanning almost twenty years…" Harry listened as Lily went on describing Voldemort's Death Eaters, the Ministry's incompetence in fighting Voldemort, and Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. Sometimes she babbled, mentioning her school days at Hogwarts or detailing some random friend's life story, but for the most part Lily stuck with the important issues. The more she drank the more she talked, remaining surprisingly coherent the entire time._

"…_one night a Seer gave a prophecy," Lily continued, "a foretelling of the end of the war. A child would be born with the power to stop the Dark Lord, and neither could live while the other survives or something like that. Dumbledore said Alice and I were the only ones that fit the prophecy's words, so we both went into hiding with our families…"_

_There it was again. Over and over Lily mentioned 'Dumbledore said' whenever it related to Voldemort, the war, and even her beliefs in Light versus Dark in the Wizarding World. He found it hard to believe such an obviously intelligent woman would use what someone else said as such a reliable source. At this point multiple people saw the old man as more than reliable; they saw him as greater than even primary sources which bewildered Harry. It was as if Dumbledore molded Lily's entire sense of morality when it came to the Wizarding World and his escape from the orphanage with Aster finally snapped her out of it._

"_That night…" Harry interrupted, immediately getting Lily's attention, "when Voldemort attacked," he ignored her slight flinch at the name, "who decided I was possessed and that Aster was the one who survived the curse?" For a moment Harry wondered if he should have even asked the question. The answer seemed so obvious and yet he felt the need to hear it come from Lily's mouth…_

_Scowling into her empty glass, Lily refilled it for the fifth time since the two had entered the dining room. "Dumbledore did," she muttered before taking a long sip of the wine. "Dumbledore said you were possessed. James suggested we give you to an orphanage, which we ended up doing, but Dumbledore actually wanted–" Harry wanted to growl in frustration as Sirius and Severus walked into the room but restrained himself._

"_Lily are you– Harry?" Sirius looked at Harry in confusion, stopping in his tracks. Severus didn't bother to hide his annoyance at almost knocking into the other man. The dark eyed man walked past Sirius and vanished the glass and wine from the table after a moment of observation._

"_Alcohol is unbecoming of you, Lily," Severus said, narrowing his eyes at the woman. Lily looked away, deciding instead to address Sirius._

_"I'm fine, Padfoot, really. It's just everything is getting so stressful. I sent the letter to Remus, but he hasn't replied yet even though he usually replies almost immediately after, so I'm going to write him another one... The Ministry is probably going to drag their feet as usual with the divorce and the custody and I still don't know how we're going to get out of all this... I can't stop thinking about-" _

_Sirius quickly interrupted, knowing Lily could go on for hours more when she was this drunk. "Let me get you a Sobering Potion or whatever it's actually called, okay? I'll be back real quick, okay, Lily?" _

_The man left, leaving Severus leaning against the door frame while Lily began to lightly sob into her hands. Lily wept and wept, the other two males in the room not making a sound. Harry made it a point not to look over at Severus and gazed at Lily. He relaxed his face, pulling his lips into a slight frown as Lily kept weeping. There was a chance Severus was silently ridiculing his act but Harry didn't pay too much attention to the possibility. There was no use worrying about it either way. _

_Eventually Sirius came back with the potion and Lily was sober again, but no less depressed. "How bad was it there, Harry?" she asked, her hands reaching across the table. _

_Harry smoothly slid his hands off the table to rest in his lap, out of Lily's reach. He looked down and off to the side, not saying anything. Sirius looked to be literally holding his breath for his godson's answer. Still in the doorway, Severus watched silently. The urge to look at his expression gnawed at Harry but he had long ago gained control over his urges. _

_Lily, taking Harry's movement as an answer, looked down at the table. "I thought it was a nice little place, really... The office they took me and James it was clean and the staff was so nice to us..." _

_Sirius, sitting next to Lily, placed his hand on her arm. "It's not your fault, Lily, you couldn't have known what kind of place it was... especially if they made it seem nice..." _

_"Yet you didn't think to check?" Harry asked, addressing both Sirius and Lily with his question. The temptation to tell them he was _buried _alive burned on the tip of his tongue. Revealing delicate portions of his history, however, was not a common occurrence in Harry's life so he refrained from acting impulsively. He saw a flash of self-righteous anger in Sirius' eyes as the man opened his mouth to speak._

_Severus quickly interrupted, "Don't even try, Sirius."_

_Harry could not tell whether Severus said it out of respect for Harry's intellect or contempt for his young age, but the words did their job. Sirius obediently quieted down but not without a light glare in Harry's direction. The lack of logic in Sirius' opinions did not help his image in Harry's eyes. Pride seemed to fuel him and his decisions, something Harry made sure to make note of. However, his pride did not seem as significant as emotions were to Sirius. It was interesting how this all-important pride was second to Severus because of his emotions. Harry could tell by the annoyed glances Sirius was giving Severus that he was reluctantly following Severus' order but following it nonetheless. The other man seemed all too aware of the fact as well._

_Severus and Lily seemed content to sit with Harry in silence after that point, each person not looking at anything in particular. Harry was thinking as well, wondering how much time had passed. He hadn't kept track after his abrupt departure from the Ministry, and hours may have passed since then. Bringing his hands back to the top of the table, Harry moved to get up and leave._

_Lily looked up sharply and asked, "Was it really that horrible there, Harry? Please, answer me…"_

_Silence stretched between them as Harry slowly turned his eyes to her. He could see Sirius and Severus both looking at him expectantly. Sirius obviously expected the truth while Severus knew Harry could not evade her question this time. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking straight into Lily's emerald eyes._

"_Aster thought so," was all he said. Severus lightly smirked at him, seemingly a little impressed. Harry inclined his head a fraction in reply, trusting the man to understand the gesture._

It was a short while afterwards that Aster walked in to the room, indirectly informing everyone that it was already morning. He silently applauded the adults when they gave no indication to Aster that he had actually not said anything at all about his time in the orphanage aside from what he said in front of Aster.

Speaking of his brother, Aster was still sound asleep on the armchair across from him. His almost mirror image looked so peaceful, the sunburst scar looking more like a flower upon his face. There were no scrunched up wrinkles, no hard lines, no signs of discomfort on Aster's face. Harry wondered if he had ever slept like that, even if he never saw himself sleeping before. For as long as he could remember, Harry never dreamed, only sleeping with the occasional nightmare. Nightmares were common at the orphanage, dozens of children crying out in the middle of the night for their parents or fending off imaginary monsters. In his nightmares Harry usually found himself trapped under a glass ceiling with the rest of the world existing above him. He could see the joy, laughter, fear, and grief of the outside world but he couldn't reach it. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't break the glass above him, destined to stay an observer as dreams were fulfilled or broken above him.

Harry got up from his arm chair and reached out to touch Aster, but thought better of it. He didn't want the calm around Aster to be disturbed, and he especially did not want to be the one to cause any such disturbance. Walking through the shelves, Harry marveled at the sheer number of volumes in the library. The only books he ever had at the orphanage other than the dictionary were children's books and this was the first time he was seeing a collection of proper novels. The various genres around him piqued his interest but he resisted the urge to pull a book out and start flipping through it. Even though he told Aster he had not finished the dictionary, he actually read it front to back multiple times since it was the only lengthy book he had that was of some interest to him in the past.

Soon he reached the 'Muggle' section and put the dictionary back in its proper place. Now that there were so many other books at his disposal, Harry wondered what he was going to read first. Aster was going to be asleep until the next morning so he wouldn't be bothered by Aster reading over his shoulder. Having someone looming so close slightly bothered Harry, even if it was Aster. Besides that, Aster seemed to read for pleasure by always looking for interesting topics while Harry preferred to read for knowledge. If there was nothing to gain by reading, he was wasting his time. However, Harry didn't want his brother to object to his choices in reading so it was better Aster slept rather than comment on every book Harry looked at.

Looking around the library, Harry was once again reminded by just how many books were there. Ten books would have been enough to confound him as to which book to choose but there were hundreds or maybe thousands for him to look at here. Thinking back, Harry recalled when Aster summoned the library's index. He automatically raised his hand to snap like Aster did before pausing. Would the trick work for him? Harry knew he was magical, but what if you had to have some rudimentary understanding of magic to accomplish the summoning? He lightly chided himself for having so little confidence in himself and resolved to try it anyway.

Just as he was about to snap, Harry heard a door open and close outside of the library. In moments he was back at the arm chairs, Harry's eyes going straight for Aster. His brother was still sound asleep and Harry could breathe again. He paused, wondering when he had started holding his breath. Shaking his head, Harry's attention went back to the outside and he slowly crept towards the library's entrance. He could hear Severus and Lily welcoming Sirius back into the house. With a small 'huff' Harry scolded himself for his inattentiveness as it seemed Severus' student had been long gone and Sirius wasn't outside just to water some plant. Unless magical plants took hours to water, since Sirius looked so tired it was as if he just traveled all over the country.

As if reading his thoughts Saphyr slithered up the nearby bookshelf to rest on Harry's arm. He looked at the serpent and hissed, "_You will not get caught this time._"

The snake bobbed its head and replied, "_Of course,_" and slithered back down the bookshelf to leave the library.

Harry went back to one of the arm chairs and picked up the book Aster had been reading out of his limp hands. He turned to the first page, curious as to what 'Pureblood' meant.

_This book pertains to the proper conduct of a pureblood in Wizarding society. As a pureblood, one contains a higher responsibility to act according to his or her social station at all times. Those born of two muggle parents, the muggleborns, or of one muggle parent and one magical parent, the halfbloods, possess little to no understanding of their own status and deploringly less understanding of the etiquette, traditions, mannerisms, and beliefs that define Wizarding society. It takes full participation from both the parents and the children to learn and live as a true member of Wizarding society, but this book only details proper pureblood etiquette. Other titles describe other facets of Wizarding society such as…_

Satisfied for now, Harry stopped reading and imagined himself in Saphyr's mind. Blinking a few times, Harry's vision changed from looking at the book to watching the floor of the hallway pass by. The muddled voices of the adults gradually got louder and clearer as Saphyr reached the front room. Both Severus and Lily were facing the front door so they didn't see Saphyr as it slithered under the sofa. Moving quickly the snake darted from under the sofa to under Severus' arm chair. Severus was the one more likely to catch Saphyr so what better way to hide from him than to hide right underneath him? Saphyr's position also gave the serpent a perfect view of Lily and Sirius, the latter plopping down on his arm chair across from Severus. Severus was hidden from view but Harry had a feeling he'd be able to deduct all he needed to know from Severus by his voice alone.

Lily was on the sofa, looking at Sirius with her hand on his knee. "Where were you, Sirius? You look exhausted!" The frown on her face deepened when Sirius hesitated to answer.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, a deep sigh escaping his lips. "Lily," he began, glancing over at Severus. After looking at the other man for a while Sirius nodded, Harry regretting not being able to see their silent exchange in full. "I have something to tell you." Lily looked at him expectantly, not saying anything in reply. Sirius raised his hand to run it through his hair again before catching himself and settling the hand on the arm of his chair. "The thing is… I'm an Agent."

Lily's face scrunched up as she tried to understand what he meant. "What?" was all she could get out while her eyes went back and forth between Severus and Sirius.

"I don't know if James told you about it," Sirius said, looking away from Lily before forcing himself to look back at her repeatedly, "but among Pureblood society there's this thing called the Agency. We're pretty much people-for-hire and everyone in it are illegal Animagus. We get hired to get information, uncover secrets, find blackmail, steal items, get stolen items back, and stuff like that." Lily's eyes narrowed slightly and she opened her mouth to speak again. Sirius quickly cut in, "I don't hurt or kill people, even though some of the others do, and no one knows who anyone else is since we only get our orders in our Animagus forms."

Silence followed Sirius' words as Lily looked down at her lap, digesting all she had heard. Harry was equally absorbed in his thoughts, wondering what kind of world the Wizarding World was to have such an organization. He didn't doubt there were other equally known yet hidden organizations if this one thrived so well to be known throughout Pureblood society. What was there to say some other group didn't exist for human trafficking, selling illegal goods, or other nefarious purposes? It seemed you couldn't trust anyone in this Wizarding World… Children travelling miles without parents knowing, friends working behind others' backs, just about everyone doing something everyone else didn't know about.

Contrary to Harry's hopes, none of the adults described exactly what an Animagus was. Through pure logic Harry could guess the form altered one's appearance, and thus hid their identity, but he could not imagine what signified such a change to have its own title. If magic was real it should be simple to change one's appearance, but the specific name of 'Animagus' revealed that there was something different in the change other than a simple magical disguise.

Before Harry could think any further on what an Animagus could be, Lily finally spoke. "Is this why you go to all of those balls, parties, and clubs, Sirius?" At Sirius' nod she added, "Are you okay with people thinking you're just a freeloader here?"

Severus smoothly cut in, "Everyone has always believed Sirius to be a philandering idiot so there's really no difference."

Laughing, Sirius added, "The job pays well too."

Lily raised an eyebrow at this statement, confusion written clearly on her face. "Aren't you the Black Heir, Sirius? Why should you worry about money?"

"Well," Sirius began, scratching his head, "you know that after Uncle Orion died I kind of denounced my family and ran off. Once I denounced James after what happened with Harry," Lily winced and Sirius gave her a sympathetic smile, "my family was ready to accept me back as the official Heir but I needed to have a kid first. With lessening numbers of pureblood children each year, a new requirement was added that to become Head of the family you needed to have an heir to succeed you already." The man looked over at Severus, a soft smile on his lips. "I don't think I'll be having kids any time soon."

After a short period of silence Sirius lightly coughed. "Speaking of kids… Wasn't there something you wanted to say about Harry and Aster, Lily?"

"Oh, yes!" Lily replied, looking at Severus and Sirius. "Is it really okay for us to live here? I know we started talking about it a couple of days ago but we never really discussed it."

Severus was the one to reply. "It won't be too difficult, but there will be problems," he said. "Unfortunately most of what I earn through tutoring and my Potions Master work go back into my experiments and Sirius' earnings pay for our taxes and necessities. Your Charms Mistress work should pay for your living here, but I do not know how we will afford feeding and clothing two growing boys. The most immediate solution would be for us to accept the teaching position at Hogwarts."

"And I don't want either of you working there if Dumbledore is still there," Sirius added.

"I don't want to either," Lily replied, pausing to think of something else to say. "If everything was normal the Ministry would take forever with the divorce papers, but I have a feeling we'll be hearing about both the divorce and custody results soon."

"Yes, especially since you publicly revealed where you are living and Harry's existence," Severus drawled. Lily ducked her head, her hands now fiddling with each other in her lap. "It was bound to happen, Lily, but your and Aster's actions were both impulsive and idiotic, traits I never would have thought to associate with you or your child. On the bright side this is exactly what Dumbledore did _not_ want, even if there are now new rumors concerning your relationship with me and Sirius."

Lily scowled, narrowing her eyes as she gazed at nothing in particular. "I still think it's ridiculous how religiously the Wizarding World follows the newspapers and magazines. They take any random bit of garbage as fact, thinking everyone in the news is in some twisted little soap opera!" Off to the side Sirius had a blank look on his face while Saphyr could hear Severus chuckling above him. "I'm sorry, Padfoot, it's a Muggle term…"

Sirius smiled, waving his hand. "It's okay, Lily," he said, turning to look around the room. His eyes roamed, never resting on a single object. "So… how long do we have to wait for the owl?"

Lily laughed, her hand coming up to lightly cover her mouth. "You're never one for waiting, are you Sirius? You can go back out and tend to the plants if you're so anxious."

"Can't I take the boys out or something? Do something fun?" the man whined in reply, slouching in his chair. "I have nothing to do… And we're stuck inside the wards anyway until all this chaos dies down." Sirius started tapping the arm of his chair rapidly, his other hand twirling his wand around.

Lily shook her head and replied, "Aster is probably in the library like usual, and I'd be surprised if Harry wasn't with him. They've been inseparable."

"_Such_ a surprise considering this is the first they've seen of each other for nine years," Severus added, causing the small smiles on Sirius and Lily's face to fade.

With a light laugh Lily put a smile back on her face and said, "Harry reminds me so much of you when you were young, Severus, don't you think it's adorable?"

Sirius watched Severus' reaction and chuckled. Harry wanted to ask Saphyr to see what was so humorous about Severus' expression, but knew better than to let Saphyr be caught a second time. The Potions professor was already suspicious of both him and Saphyr, and he didn't want to give Severus any more clues to work off of. Then, Saphyr heard Severus remark, "It'd be adorable if my countenance and behavior weren't results of the undesirable circumstances from my childhood."

Before Lily's frown could disappear again, Sirius said, "At least it was better than Hogwarts, right, Severus? I mean I know I…"

Harry tuned out the rest of Sirius' words, anticipating a long litany of past events from the adults' school days. He caught the word 'prank' before cutting off his connection to Saphyr, trusting the serpent to find its own way back to the library without getting caught. The conversation he heard gave him a few topics to think about, from the Agency, Animagus, Wizarding media, Pureblood society, to the financial situation the adults were in. It would be disheartening to find out all he had done to keep Aster on his side was useless because of insufficient funds. Given what Harry had just learned about the media and Pureblood society, maybe there was a way Aster's status as Boy-Who-Lived could be used to get Dumbledore out of Hogwarts and give Severus and/or Lily a safe job at Hogwarts.

A possible solution in mind, Harry moved on to contemplate the Agency and Animagus. Thinking back, Harry thought he saw the word 'Animagus' in the inner animal book he read with Aster, but couldn't remember clearly enough to know for certain. He thought about going to look for the book before deciding to trust his instinct. If the term 'Animagus' was really mentioned in the inner animal book and had to do with some sort of transformation, Harry concluded that being an Animagus meant one could turn into an animal. It made sense considering Sirius had done just that when he and Aster met him for the first time. Sirius' Animagus form was a dog then, if one only had one form. Harry didn't know if someone could have more than one form, but assumed it was so if one could have their form registered. That implied that forms were unique to a certain individual, but still did not give concrete evidence that one could or could not have more than one form unique to them. He would look it up later.

Harry suddenly smiled, imagining what Aster would have done. He guessed his twin would be roaming the shelves, wanting to figure it all out right at that moment, not wasting any time. They both seemed to like to use each moment productively, but Harry acknowledged rest as productive while Aster seemed to ignore exhaustion entirely. His brother's frequent fainting episodes seemed to support his assessment as well. Even Aster's thoughts seemed to go on and on and on, never pausing to think through the details or work out the significance of what went on around him. It was a wonder Aster's brain hadn't burst from being so overworked, Aster's photographic memory not helping at all. It gave the boy that much more to think about in his endless stream of thought. Or maybe it was a case of causation as opposed to correlation. Harry shook his head, not comprehending his brother's thought process while glad Aster wasn't exactly the same as him. It made life just a little bit more interesting with Aster's unpredictable yet purely innocent nature.

He looked down at his lap, remembering the book he glanced through before eavesdropping on the adults. It was then he recalled how he was about to attempt to summon the library index before hearing Sirius return to the house. Unbidden thoughts halted his fingers just as he was ready to try snapping. Was he supposed to say 'index' before or after snapping his fingers? Did it make a difference? Thinking for a moment Harry decided to do both actions at the same time and attempt the other options if his first try failed. He did just that, hoping he hadn't said 'index' too loud and that Aster wouldn't wake just yet. Thankfully Aster was still fast asleep but the index hadn't arrived yet. The moments that passed by seemed like hours while Harry wondered if it would actually appear in front of him.

Forgetting about trying out the other methods, Harry turned to return the pureblood etiquette book on his own. Just then the index popped into existence in front of him. His eyes widened as he slowly reached out to the index floating in front of him. It had worked. He properly summoned the index. Considering his various magical abilities; the ability to connect to animals' and Aster's mind, seeing Lily's spirit/soul/magic (any presumptions were undesirable and as of now Harry could not properly label what he saw), as well as instantly transporting somewhere, it shouldn't be so amazing to summon a book, and yet it was. With Aster's nonchalance earlier, the summoning of the index seemed to be a common action in a Wizarding library and Harry accomplishing this made him more like a true wizard. He couldn't tell if his other abilities were normal in the Wizarding World, but this was normal and made him normal.

Using the index he quickly put away the pureblood etiquette book and ventured over to the newspaper and magazine section. It seemed that Severus kept a diligent archive of the Daily Prophet, Potions Journal, and a few other periodicals. He assumed the archive of Witch Weekly was Sirius' doing as it was a much more colloquial publication. Harry went through the Daily Prophet issues, noticing it was the Ministry's newspaper and thus the most politically and socially powerful newspaper if what Lily said about the media was true. Also, if aristocracy and nobility remained in the Wizarding World, then those with the most political power were also the ones with the most financial and social power. Lords of families unofficially ruled over the land. The nobility lived while the lesser families merely existed. To Harry it all seemed like an animal kingdom where the predators were predators by birth while the prey remained prey for generations, barring exceptions which proved the rule.

As Harry read through the newspapers, he saw that, until the hiding places were attacked, the general public had been completely unaware of the Longbottom and Potter family's children and their state of secrecy. What was interesting was how both the Longbottom and Potter houses were attacked the same night, but the Longbottom parents were the ones left insane and the child generally unharmed while the Potter parents survived in almost perfect health while he and Aster were left with scars and discolored eyes. The Dark Lord was reported to have personally attacked the Potter home, whereas various captured Death Eaters attested to attacking the Longbottom home to get the parents out of the way for the Dark Lord's arrival (presumably following what should have been a successful assault on the Potter household).

He skimmed over the majority of the Longbottom attack's trials, wanting more information on the Potter attack. There was no mention of Aster ever having a twin and the Daily Prophet seemed to be the first to liken his brother's scars to a sun. Harry lightly ran his fingers down the vertical scar that stretched across the majority of the right side of his face, wondering what the newspaper would have called his scar. He shook his head, turning his attention back to the articles.

Out of curiosity Harry turned to the back of the newspaper, squinting as he scanned the tiny print of the lines at the bottom-most section of each page. The effort in making the articles so small made him believe there was something there the Ministry didn't want readers to pay attention to, but wanted to be able to admit to printing. One section caught his interest:

"_This reporter has to ask, who actually witnessed the attack on the proclaimed Boy-Who-Lived? How can one be so sure Voldemort did not merely curse the child and escape, leaving a fake corpse? Oh wait, there was no corpse, just robes. Not even a wand. Or at least, none reported. How does one even know which curse scarred the child? Admittedly I am known to routinely doubt the words and actions of the Ministry, Dumbledore, and even my colleagues, but I believe these questions must be considered. The actions of…_"

The reporter went on to write about some law the Ministry passed, but Harry wasn't reading the article anymore. Scanning the other minimized articles, it seemed a couple of other reporters had similar doubts about the Potter attack and the pronunciation of the Boy-Who-Lived, but later issues of the Daily Prophet contained opposing articles claiming the doubters were merely contrarians finding excuses to continually rebel against society and its views. Flipping over to today's issue which wrote about the Ministry event where Aster revealed Harry's existence, Harry ignored the front page and turned to the back pages. The accused contrarians were nowhere to be found and, after skimming through the earlier pages, seemed to not have any articles in the issue at all. Had they been fired for being right when the Ministry was wrong?

It was then Harry actually looked at the front page articles, seeing a picture of Aster silently yelling at James and Dumbledore with Lily and Severus off to the side. The fact that the image was moving astounded Harry, but he guessed he should have predicted such a thing considering it was a magical photo. The angle of the picture didn't capture Harry or Sirius, and for that Harry was glad. He didn't particularly want his picture in the newspaper, especially with his intimidating eye and scar. One picture on the consecutive page was of Harry running off, but his back was to the camera so his face was hidden. On the front page the headline read, 'Trouble in Paradise?' and other titles of articles read 'Savior Terrorized by Parents?' and 'Mystery Twin; Who is Harry?'. The articles on the front page were full of speculations about Lily's relationship with Severus, Aster's relationship with James, and questions about Harry's existence and why he was hidden for the past nine years. Some reporters supposed that Lily was cheating on James and had brainwashed Aster against his father while others believed Severus had brainwashed both Lily and Aster. Other articles thought Harry was a Squib (whatever that was) and that was the reason why he was hidden for so long.

Bored of the Daily Prophet's wild guesses, he turned to Witch Weekly just to see what it was. The front cover had a picture of Sirius, proclaimed 'Most Dazzling Smile of the Year', while a bubble of text said something about having exclusive information on the Ministry event. Curious to see what this magazine had come up with, Harry turned the page only to drop the magazine in shock. In a picture that took up half of the page were Harry and Aster, holding hands in the crowd at the Ministry. He hadn't even noticed a photographer across from them, and the flashes of cameras all around the crowd must have distracted him from seeing one in front of him. The picture showed Aster with his face slightly turning towards Harry's, but it wasn't close enough to capture Aster's expression. What shocked Harry the most was that he could see his red eye clearly even though he and Aster were still wearing their hoods. Aster's golden eye and Harry's red eye shined through the shadow of their hoods, their green eyes a little less brilliant. Harry's scar was still hidden, but he could see his slit serpent-like pupil in the middle of his red eye in the picture.

Slightly alarmed, Harry scanned the article underneath the picture. Like with the Daily Prophet articles it was only filled with questions and speculations, but this time there were speculations on whether or not Harry was possessed, the next Dark Lord, cursed, or even Aster's dark side and not truly an entire separate person. This reminded Harry of what was said when the twins were attacked.

"_They were born attached at the head ... One left more powerful than the other…_"

From what Harry was reading, it seemed that if the general public didn't know Aster ever had a twin, they couldn't have known they were born attached at the head. How could the Dark Lord's minion have known? Harry remembered reading that Peter Pettigrew betrayed Lily and James' location to the Dark Lord… It seemed his and Aster's parents had a nasty habit of misplacing their hope and trust concerning dire circumstances.

Reading on, Harry saw an article that questioned whether Harry was the one the Dark Lord attacked and if Aster did some accidental magic to protect him and thus defeated the Dark Lord. It was the only article close to the truth, but even Harry couldn't tell what the entire truth was. Was Aster's eye and reaction to the attack accidental magic that Aster caused, or did the attack flow along their connection and attack both Harry and Aster, some force from both of them repelling the attack? Harry could not relive the attack like Aster could with photographic memory, and even with their connection Harry could only see the memory from Aster's point of view. He couldn't tell what he himself was feeling or what he was thinking at the time of the attack.

Most of the articles were significantly interested in the fact that Aster's and Harry's discolored eyes matched up. Aster's left eye was golden, and Harry's right eye was red. Some article mentioned Gryffindor, and Harry made a mental note to look up what or who that was. Other articles wondered if Harry had a scar like Aster's, but most of those assumed it would be different considering the difference in colors.

After a while Harry shut the magazine, having gone through all of the articles related to him and Aster in it. The rest of the magazine was about fashion, or some other feminine topic that Harry couldn't care more about. He was tempted to go through the other periodicals on the shelf but stopped when he heard a tapping come from the direction of where Aster was.

Hurrying back to his brother, Harry saw an owl tapping its talons on the library's window. From his side he heard Aster groan and noticed him about to wake. Harry scowled at the bird, wanting to have a few more hours without his brother's randomly boisterous personality taking up his time. Behind him the library doors opened, the adults walking inside.

Severus was at the forefront of the trio of adults, walking around Harry and opening the window. Lily was smiling down at Aster's sleeping form when the owl flew over to her, dropping an envelope before flying back out of the house. She opened the envelope, her eyes widening as she read the letter. With a choked cry she abruptly handed the letter to Sirius, letting him read it. Sirius' face twisted as he scowled at the letter, throwing it up in the air.

Aster had just sat up, rubbing his eyes as Sirius spat, "I should have guessed."

Before any of the adults could reach the letter, it floated before Harry and he grabbed it. His eyes scanned the first few lines.

_The Ministry of Magic regrets to inform you that your request for formal custody of Aster Evans Potter has been declined due to…_

Harry's hands shook, holding the letter, barely able to restrain himself from clenching his hands and ripping the parchment. "No…" he whispered, his mind racing to find some way out of this, "no, no…"


	9. Shifting Reflections

_Tap, tap, tap… tap, tap, tap…_ What was that incessant noise? I groaned, hoping the noise would stop. It didn't, and I juggled my wish to rest with my wish to shut up whatever that annoying noise was. My troubled mind eased when the noise suddenly stopped, and then loud footsteps quickly took the place of the tapping. Did no one notice there was a person trying to sleep?

Wait, when did I fall asleep? As I tried to remember what happened prior to my unexpected nap, I heard Mother's voice come out in a choked cry. I forced my body upright, rubbing at my eyes so I could see what was going on. I cursed myself as I was too sleepy to listen properly and missed whatever Uncle Sirius said. I blinked repetitively, the library slowly coming in to focus. I could see Uncle Severus standing off to the side with Mother and Uncle Sirius closer to the doorway. Harry was standing almost right in front of me and I saw a letter in his hands.

The word "No" slipped repeatedly from his mouth as his hands shook. I quickly snatched the letter from him so he wouldn't rip it. I was impressed with his self-control at not ripping it already if it was unsettling him this much. It was then that I saw what was written in the letter. My eyes had only glanced at the letter, but it was as if I read the entirety of the letter's contents in that one glance. Darn memory.

_The Ministry of Magic regrets to inform you that your request for formal custody of Aster Evans Potter has been declined due to certain aspects of your current domestic situation that warrant James Potter receiving formal custody of Aster Evans Potter. It has come to the attention of the Ministry that at this time your chosen abode, Spinner's End, houses two bachelor males: one Severus Snape and Sirius Black. Their status within the Wizarding World is circumspect at best and though you may be unaware of their true natures, the Ministry encourages you, Lily Evans, to reconsider your household of choice._

_Aster Evans Potter shall be scheduled to return to his father by the end of the evening, failure to do so resulting in legal action by the Ministry. Should you wish to request to visit Aster Evans Potter you can arrange an appointment schedule through the Department of Marital and Parental Affairs._

_Any and all questions, comments, or concerns regarding this edict may be brought directly to the Ministry of Magic after scheduling an appointment with the aforementioned department. _

Before the full impact of the letter's contents could bring out some sort of reaction in me, I felt a pulse of pure anger emanate from my brother. He was glaring at Mother and Uncle Sirius, Uncle Severus standing behind Harry. "Are you just going to let this happen?" Harry demanded of Mother. The question almost sounded like an accusation with the way Harry practically growled it out of his mouth. It seemed like I finally glimpsed the real Harry behind the accepting role he wore for my sake.

Mother's eyes widened before she looked away. Uncle Sirius stepped forward to answer for her. "There's not much we can do, Harry, the Ministry–"

"Is that what you all said last time?" Harry interrupted, yelling at the adults. "There's nothing we can do, so let's just _abandon_ a child!"

I saw Uncle Severus' eyes narrow at Harry, the man's lips thinning into a hard line. Those were telltale signs of rising anger, and that couldn't be good for Harry. I didn't trust my voice not to stutter if I tried to warn him so I resorted to our mental connection. 'Harry, I don't think that's a good idea…' I thought over to him. Where Uncle Severus' eyes looked like hard steel, Harry's eyes were burning brightly and I got the feeling neither male was likely to back down in the upcoming confrontation.

Harry looked at me sideways, the angle such that I could only see his vibrant green eye. 'I am not going to stand for this, Aster! I won't let them tear us apart again. Do you know how _defenseless_ I_–' _suddenly our mental connection broke off and I wondered what Harry was thinking. Could he possibly see me as a guardian or protector in this new, unfamiliar, and unforgiving world? Ha, the thought was ridiculous but it'd be nice if it were true. I wanted it to be true. Before I could entertain the thought longer I heard Uncle Severus scold Harry.

"If you are done with your petty temper tantrum–"

"That's what you think this is, a _temper tantrum_?" Harry asked incredulously as he whirled around to face Uncle Severus. His voice was a bare whisper and I wondered if Harry had somehow come to respect Uncle Severus a little. Harry sounded as if Uncle Severus should have understood. One of Uncle Severus' eyebrows was twitching, having started right after Harry interrupted him. I could tell it was something he both was _not_ used to and did _not_ like.

The moment Harry had finished speaking an explosion occurred in the back of the library, and I watched as four or five shelves collapsed on top of each other. Random pages were floating around in the air, smoke obscuring some of the view. This was accidental magic at one of its more violent points, and I hoped it wouldn't hurt anyone though Harry had the right to be upset. The memory of the 'haunted hallway' flashed unbidden across my mind. Throughout the whole episode I was still in a detached state of shock, simply observing all that went on.

"Stupefy!" Mother's yell surprised me, and I chided myself on forgetting all three adults in the room were survivors of the Great War against Lord Voldemort and could all properly use their wands to subdue an angered child. Reflexively I caught Harry's unconscious body as it fell, the details of the situation finally settling in my mind. I turned to meet Mother's eyes and saw tears filling her eyes but none of them falling. She opened her mouth to say something to me but I shook my head.

"It's okay, Mother," I said, a chill pulsing through my chest as I ignored my shaking arms and sweating hands, "I'll go. I'll be back though; I know I will." _I just have to think of something_, I added in my mind. Deep in the back of my mind I felt Harry's consciousness finding its way to my mind and I closed my eyes before Uncle Sirius and Uncle Severus could see my green eye turning red as I knew it would. "Please…" I said to the adults, "let me have a moment alone with Harry… before I have to go."

With my eyes closed I couldn't see if any of the adults nodded. For moments I stayed still and silent and hoped they would leave. I sighed a breath of relief when I heard footsteps heading away and the doors to the library close. 'That, was stupid Harry_._'I thought to my brother, sensing he had reopened our connection.

'Would you prefer I just let them take you away?' Again I admired the calm in his thoughts though I could sense the shaking anger he felt at Mother's actions.

'No, of course not but–'

'Then what is the problem?'

'I won't be gone for long, I'll find a way to come back…'

'Why should you have to go at all?'

'It's the Ministry, Harry. They make the rules and wizards and witches under the Ministry have to follow those rules.'

'How do you intend on returning, then, if this all-powerful Ministry says you have to leave?'

'Why do you have to be so difficult?'

'Why do you have to not make sense?'

'Bloody– just trust me, Harry!'

'And I haven't been trusting you? Like when I left the orphanage, confronted our parents, came here, and during everything else that's happened?'

I sighed and was glad the adults left and couldn't see my changing facial expressions throughout my mental debate. I'd rather not be considered crazy on top of all the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense. 'I know James and I think I can get him to at least agree to let me visit Mother more often than the Ministry would allow. It's by no means perfect but it's all I can do.'

Silence. Patiently I waited for Harry's decision. Defying the Ministry seemed impossible yet in the depths of my heart I knew I would attempt it if Harry asked me to. Part of me wondered at that, questioning if there was some external influence that bound my thoughts to Harry's opinions and desires. Was this normal with twins? With identical twins? With previously conjoined twins? I didn't know enough twins to know. Thinking about all the other magical twins I knew I realized there weren't many. Was that due to some magical constraint on childbirth? Harry's reply cut through my train of thoughts.

'I will accept this situation for now. Know that the consequences of this will not be positive for either of us, brother.' He then promptly cut off the mental connection between us. The barrier, however, felt thin as if I could break straight through it if I really wanted to. The message was sent. He was upset and I couldn't blame him either.

At that moment the door to the library opened once more and I shut my eyes, hoping Harry would wake up or fall asleep so my right eye could regain its normal emerald green. Footsteps approached me and if I guessed correctly only one person entered the library.

"Potter's here, Aster," whispered Uncle Severus' voice.

Weighing my options and unable to consult my brother I asked, "Can you wake up my brother? Or at least let him sleep?" The 'stupefy' spell Mother used seemed to only make Harry unconscious and my Gryffindor gaze would remain until his consciousness returned to its rightful mind.

A quiet sigh flowed through the air above me. "Risking his ire goes against my instincts."

"Please," was all I whispered in reply.

I heard the library door shut further away and Uncle Severus' voice rang out, "Is there something wrong, Aster?"

Mother's voice suddenly resounded from behind the library door. "Severus? Aster? Harry?"

Taking a deep breath I gathered my courage and opened my eyes to lock with Uncle Severus' black gaze. In the reflection of his dark irises I could see the red and gold standing out from beneath my black bangs. My uncle's eyes widened and he quickly whispered, "Who knows?"

"Father – James saw; I don't know if he told Mother."

Uncle Severus opened his mouth to reply but the library door handle twisted and began to swing open. In quick succession Uncle Severus whispered, "Ennervate, silencio," pointing his wand at my brother and flicking it different ways.

Harry's eyes opened and he took a sudden breath yet no sound was made. His eyes were back to their normal Christmas theme. I watched Harry realize what happened and that red and green gaze narrowed at the air before snapping towards the door and his eyes shut closed when he noticed Mother in the library doorway. One breath, two… and Harry's eyes calmly opened and he nodded at Uncle Severus. Throughout this I sat motionless, suddenly releasing the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

'He silenced me.' The return of Harry's thoughts in my mind sent such a substantial wave of warmth through me that I almost forgot to reply.

'That might be for the best. James is here.'

'… I must concede. May I rightfully assume this is not permanent?' As the thought flowed through my mind, Harry got up from my lap and dusted himself off. Mother inched into the room and I stood as well. Harry pointedly avoided looking at Mother but I gave her a small smile. The creases in her forehead immediately smoothed out and she attempted to smile back. Her face ended up tightening around her mouth and she shifted her hands to clasp behind her back.

'There's definitely a counterspell and I doubt Uncle Severus would permanently silence you anyway. That wouldn't be smart.'

The two of us silently followed Mother out of the library, Uncle Severus gliding in behind us. In my mind I could imagine Mother and Uncle Severus forming a barrier around my brother and me.

Soon, too soon, we reached the front room and there stood James Potter with Uncle Sirius, the latter glaring at the former. I could imagine Uncle Sirius as a guard dog and the image almost made me laugh were it not for the looming separation from my brother. I turned to Harry but all he did was jerkily nod, letting go of my hand. My palm instantly felt cold as it left my brother's warmth. Clenching my eyes shut to halt the tears, I maneuvered blindly to where James stood.

A rustling of cloth and breath against my face told me James knelt in front of me. A hand rustled my hair. "Hey kiddo – "

"Let's just go." I briskly interrupted, leaning my head away from his touch. James moved his hand to my shoulder.

As I felt the beginning of the Apparition I missed Harry falling to his knees.

When I landed in Godric's Hollow I knew I wouldn't be able to mentally reach Harry from here. Our connection was still there, but it wasn't _there_ similar to when my brother fled the Ministry and our connection disappeared. Discovering that our physical proximity was a constraint on our telepathy didn't comfort me in the slightest.

Regarding physical proximity…

James' hands held my face, his eyes boring into mine. When his eyes shifted left and right I realized he probably wanted to insure my emerald eye was still its emerald shade and not the vibrant red of my brother's.

"Something wrong?"

James' head jerked backwards and his eyes refocused on my face. The nervous chuckle James always let loose when in trouble used to make me giggle and now it grated my ears worse than a knife dragged along glass. I now saw his little pleading smile for what it was; an attempt to mask his failures with jokes… a type of self influenced by an impulsive personality meant to excuse any faulty decisions. To think this man used to be my role model, a supposed bringer of justice. The way he risked his life each day to end evil and spread righteousness inspired me to obey my parents, to do well in my studies, to do my chores, to keep my promises…

Keeping my promise to Harry changed everything.

"No, nothing's wrong… Dumbledore said – Er, I just thought – never mind…" he trailed off, turning around and scratching his head. Typical James; always needing someone to tell him what to do. Orders from work, explanations from Mother… did he ever do anything on his own? A part of me missed our old relationship: the laughter, the fun, the games. However 'fun' with this man would only be a reward for tearing me away from my brother, abandoning Mother, ruining her reputation, denying Harry's existence… I knew what I wanted and standing here in silence would only keep my goal far from my reach.

I doubted asking outright would work, but should I try? "J- Father?" James turned around so swiftly I expected his neck to snap. Alas, returning to Harry and Mother was delayed when James survived the turn.

"What is it, kiddo?" What was with this new nickname? Did my name remind him too much of Mother? Of Harry? Did avoiding my name somehow allow him to escape the reality that he lost the love of his life and publicly denounced his son? If he was trying to ignore them this much would asking about visiting them do anything right now?

Parroting James, I said, "No, nothing's wrong…" and turned towards the library. There must be a book on tricking parents into giving you what you wanted. What was the word… stipulation? No, ministration? Ah, manipulation! My memory of the dictionary claimed manipulation was "exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage" and that certainly suited my purposes.

Suddenly James grabbed my arm and then quickly let go. His hand ran through his hair and his eyes latched onto a corner over the ceiling as he stuttered, "Do you… want to go flying?"

I might not have found the book yet, but something told me convincing James to follow my thoughts and desires started now.

Decision made, I flashed James a smile that burned the muscles in my cheeks. "Sure!"

* * *

Once Aster disappeared with James, a wash of _something_ flooded Harry's veins and drained out in a single moment. His stance faltered and he fell to one knee despite the intense desire to not appear weak in front of the adults. The show of weakness was overshadowed by his current predicament and so Harry disregarded the impulse to snap at the adults when they immediately asked after his well-being. At least, he would have disregarded it had the impulse brought itself forward for him to disregard.

That empty, bored, _dead_ feeling once again overwhelmed Harry's being. Not quite as pervasive as his earlier years of life, the boy could sense it was a feeling and not a state of mind. He deduced that the actions of the adults bothered him and thus he should feel the need to react, to shout, to yell, to at least say _something _in response to the annoyance and yet none such action occurred to him. The thought did cross his mind however the thought seemed to be a mere thought and not an honest consideration that would lead to action.

None of it made sense, and he knew it.

His hands grasped his hair and he shook his head violently. Hmm. Apparently aggression was an allowed expulsion of emotion with this new 'feeling' dominating his mind. Instantly thoughts of using his magic to destroy his surroundings rushed to the forefront of his mind and Harry knew it was within his ability. This room was smaller than the 'haunted hallway' and the walls seemed to be made of thinner material. It wouldn't be that hard, just a little concentration and –

Harry's thoughts were broken when Severus suddenly kneeled before him. How Harry didn't notice Severus moving so close to him escaped him. It didn't really matter, what was the man going to do? Harm him after practically risking his livelihood to house him? But how did Harry become so careless so quickly and lose track of those around him? Was he really becoming so trusting so easily? No, he merely must have been careless. So stupid! The urge to lash out threatened to engulf Harry once more.

In the depths of his mind concern and alarm fought against the dead feeling. This unexpected aggression was idiotic and unproductive. Where did it come from? Was he really like this before? The dead feeling felt so foreign to him now after how alive he felt with Aster by his side. The sudden thought that a foreign force could be manipulating his emotions froze Harry's heart.

"Harry, calm down." Severus' sharp words sliced through Harry's rising panic and the boy straightened from his place on the floor, his head now above Severus'.

"I am calm." The honesty in his own words surprised Harry even as he noticed Severus cancelled the silencing spell. The maelstrom of confusion swept away in the face of Severus' command. Rising to a stand he felt bored with all of this introspection. He needed a productive activity to occupy his time with Aster gone. Preferably an activity that led to the lessening of time Aster was away. These predictable adults would only bore him in the meantime.

Harry turned about and stalked off toward the library, intent on learning everything he could about the ruling pureblood society and the seemingly all-powerful Ministry of Magic. He would get Aster back and it would happen soon.

He walked right past Lily and Sirius, ignoring the hands that reached toward him.

"Leave him." The footsteps following Harry halted at Severus' words.

Lily's voice was soft and timid. "What happened to him?"

Silence, and then Sirius barked, "You know, don't you?"

A longer silence, this time one where Harry's heartbeat pulsed in his ears.

"I have my suspicions."

Harry mentally scoffed, throwing open the library doors. Severus didn't know anything.


	10. Emotionally Volatile

Long, thin fingers stretched along the surface of a dark leather journal, the pads of each gloved finger gliding along its glossed material. One finger paused for a moment longer than the rest and outlined an engraved "M" before moving. Near the opposite armrest the other set of gloved fingers lightly held a roll of parchment, the crinkling material echoing the sounds of the rustling fireplace burning in front of the seated man.

The pureblood scion's mind churned around deep red eyes with slit pupils and the whispering hiss of the owner's sibilant magical language. His lord often hinted and suggested at having attained immortality, but was it true? It would be less than vigilant to allot too much trust in speculation – however logical and tempting in the case of soothing his fears.

Nearly a decade has passed already and still his lord remains a 'vanquished' Dark Lord. Surely if his lord were immortal he would not stand to be so ridiculed and believed to have been slain by a mere toddler?

Aster Potter…

He remembered meeting the boy a few years ago, that bubble of energy and laughter. The clear lack of decorum in the child saddened him. Yet another pureblood line would descend into traitorous barbarity. Yet, only a week ago he saw a very different child. The same excited energy caught his attention when the boy practically squealed outside the Quidditch store in Diagon Alley, except when he addressed the boy. Then, there was a deliberate pause before the Potter child turned and returned his greeting with careful manners. The sight distinctly reminded him of his own son, the little dragon always putting on a show in front of him and acting quite the spoiled brat with his mother. In time his dragon would learn the purpose and meaning behind the proper mannerisms of a pureblood heir, but until then he would settle for hearing what he wanted to hear.

It slightly interested him, then, that the Potter child acted in such a similar way. Obviously booting the mudblood out of the family did some good, though it was surprising that James Potter out of all purebloods seemed to decide to teach his child the proper ways. No matter, Potter and his heir were hardly worth his time. It was the mudblood and her supposed bastard child that seized his attention.

The Daily Prophet flooded the streets when the Boy-Who-Lived's perfect family shattered in front of dozens of people at the Ministry last year. He wished he had witnessed the events himself, though he had not and so all information would be faulty secondhand reports. As with nearly any significant event, every article only contained a portion of the story. Even after reading dozens of articles few could attempt at rewriting the event as it actually happened. One detail was readily apparent, if any, and that was that somehow the Boy-Who-Lived had a twin and no one, not even James or Dumbledore, cared to admit he existed.

The entirety of tabloids, magazines, and newspapers on the other hand loved shouting to the whole magical community that the twin existed. Evans and her boy vanished from the public's eye, so attention eventually turned to Snape and Black. With Severus' safeguards no reporter could touch him or his mutt, but that didn't stop them from speculating each and every possible scenario that brought the twin into being. Fabrications from the most logical to the most nonsensical minds were printed daily, sometimes even hourly on a particularly imaginative day.

He outright laughed the day the Prophet released the adulterous accusations against Evans and Snape with some vague references at Muggle 'scientific research' and fertirr- no, fraternal twins. Severus' inclinations in regards to relationships were no secret to him and the thought of the potions master just holding Evans' hand for too long was cause for laughter.

The bastard child, Harry, was definitely Evans' child; few people possessed that vibrant shade of green in their eyes. The black hair, however… What would cause James to deny his own son? As a pureblood and an uptight Gryffindor the man surely valued family. The child could not be Severus'. Did Black…? The mutt's relationship with Severus aside, the man was known as a philanderer in his school days. Was Evans another conquest? A hidden tryst?

The blasted flea-bitten mongrel failed to inform him that Evans and her bastard child were indeed staying at Spinner's End and he was thus unable to prepare for meeting the child when he went to call on the mutt the other day. That one red eye, its slit pupil and piercing gaze brought too many memories to the forefront of his mind. The child's lithe, inquisitive nature and commanding presence – the mutt followed the bastard child's every twitch if not every concern – appeared too parallel to be simple coincidence.

His fingers clenched the roll of parchment, threatening to tear the material. He needed to know more before he was sure.

"Is this truly all you could discover?" the lazy drawl was released with light tones stark against a glinting molten gaze.

The wrinkled creature preyed by those eyes instantly shriveled into a bundle of fidgeting limbs at his feet and gasped and sobbed. "Yes, Master sir, I'm sorry Master sir, I tried, Master sir…"

"Enough."

With a squeak the elf vanished from the room, leaving the man alone to stare into the fireplace. On the side table nearby were newspapers and magazines, each one displaying a pair of dark haired boys. The Quibbler, with the painted portrait of a red and green gaze, stood out on top, the motionless eyes capturing more attention than any of the animated grayscale photos around them.

There was an invitation to a birthday celebration also resting on the table, one that he knew Severus and the mutt had not received. The words, '_Hogwarts castle, July 31__st__'_ were scrawled along the bottom of the invitation with instructions for how to RSVP.

"Potter… what are you hiding?"

Quick 'click's and scrapes accompanied ivory clashing with ebony though I knew the battle was already lost. My soft sigh was met with a light chuckle and my uncle called out, "Checkmate" as my knight perished beneath his queen.

"Aw, Uncle Remus aren't you supposed to let me win?"

Uncle Remus just laughed again. "I think you've beaten James enough times that you don't need me to make you feel better."

An indignant shout rang from the kitchen and we both laughed seeing James pouting in our direction as he attempted to wash the dishes.

"Yeah, he's no good at chess." Another indignant noise.

"And apparently no good at washing dishes, either." Uncle Remus waved his wand, putting away the chess pieces and moved to get up.

With another sigh and a smile I stopped him and got up first. "I've got it."

Over in the kitchen James managed to turn the sink into a mountain of suds. Obviously he put in too much soap and the water was on much too high. Trust Mother to use a Muggle sink, and James was never good at household charms either. I stepped up onto my snitch-covered stepstool and turned the water off. Barely turning my face I stared at James.

His usual chuckle escaped his lips. "Oh… so that's how it works? I'll remember that."

"If I didn't know any better, James," Remus said, giving James an excuse to look away from my stare, "I'd think Aster was the one raising you."

Moving over in front of my uncle, I strained to look up at him. Would I get taller, already? "Uncle, what are we doing today? Can I go to Diagon Alley? I'm almost ten now!"

"Oh no you don't-!" James came around and picked me up, ruffling my hair. "I'm showing you around today, kiddo, remember?"

Energy rushed through my body as I remembered what was planned today. My excitement must have shown on my face as James and Uncle Remus both started to laugh. Wriggling my limbs I scrambled out of James' arms and rushed towards my room. "When are we leaving? Am I allowed to take notes? No, carrying a quill and inkpot wouldn't be fun… do I still have one of Mother's pens?"

I stared around in awe and absently wondered if my neck would be sore in the morning from turning to look everywhere so quickly. "This is so cool!" Caught between rushed excitement and the knowledge that running around was dangerous, I contained myself to shuffling from place to place and directed my energy to pointing and waving my arms.

Beams of light shot through the air to my left towards moving targets, to my right were Auror trainees familiarizing themselves with poisonous herbs and fungi, and up ahead were trainees sparring with each other. There was one place in particular where there were trainees just running around. Curious, I hurried over.

James chuckled behind me, "Careful, kiddo, I'm not exactly supposed to let you get too close."

"But you _promised_ to let me see where you work if I passed Dumbledore's test yesterday." Ignoring James insisting I call the old man 'headmaster' I observed the sparring area. My green-gold eyes flicked left and right while I tried to follow what was going on. A few trainees were standing in the center of what looked like an office, dummies placed around the perimeter. At random intervals a beam of light shot out from a dummy towards the trainees. They alternated between running, rolling, and even throwing items in the way. "Why aren't they using their wands?"

The older man huffed above me, but he dropped the 'headmaster' issue and explained the drill. "This is meant to mimic what could happen if an Auror loses their wand in the middle of an assignment. They still have to catch the bad guy, or at least survive until either someone helps them out or they find their wand." It was cute how James 'dumbed down' his words whenever he spoke to me. He really didn't have to go that far, though. I wasn't _that_ much of a kid.

There was a soft chime in the air and the trainees in the mock-office started smiling and laughing, stretching and massaging themselves. Figuring out the round was over I jumped in and turned to James. "Can I try? Please? Just once?"

Before James could answer I heard another chime in the air and a light flew my way. Remembering there was a chair nearby me I shot underneath it, quickly taking a more thorough look at the pretend office and the position of the dummies.

The trainees scrambled to surround me and I moved away immediately. Herding me would only trap me and limit my movement. I could see the trainees' frantic movements, their worried glances shooting toward me every other moment. Opposite their reaction energy filled me. There must have been a smile on my face since James stopped frowning and chuckled, sending a wink my way.

This was a game, and I was going to win.

Moving constantly, I noticed the trainees were struggling to maintain a shield around me while avoiding the lights themselves. One light hit a trainee and a short hiss escaped his lips. So these lights stung… Well it certainly helped educate if the lights provided a punishment for failing to escape them. Also, the trainee that got hit had to leave the area, a magical cloud spelling "disqualified" hovering above his head.

After a while I felt the pattern of the last three lights looked familiar. One light shot from a dummy, the next came from the dummy two to the left, the next three to the right. A pattern! Suddenly the light shot from the exact opposite dummy on the other side of the area. This time the next lights were four to the left, five to the right.

Turning around swiftly I barely managed to throw a book in front of me, the light splashing against the cover and catching my finger. That hurt! Apparently it didn't get count as a full hit, though, since no "disqualified" cloud hovered above me. The sting in my finger distracted me long enough for the next light, six to the left, to shoot my way. Resigned to getting hit from my lack of attention, I was stunned when one of the trainees threw herself in the way of the shot. The movement was so quick the light caught her in the chest.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Why did she do that?

She winced in reply, taking a deep breath. "I'm fine; I couldn't just let our savior get hit again, now could I?" With a laugh she continued, "You're James' kid, too and he's my training officer." With "disqualified" above her she moved to leave.

I could only nod when something bright reflected off something on the desk to my side. Remembering where I was, I grabbed a poster board from the desk and held it up in front of the incoming light, seven to the right.

The next three lights followed the pattern, jump straight across, eight to the left, then nine to the right. After the next jump, though, the second light was only two to the left. Was I wrong…? No, relax, wait… There! The third light was three to the right. It must have reset the pattern.

Facing the lady who got hit with the light for me, I asked, "Is there a way to turn them off?"

She blinked at me for a moment and said, "You have to hit the dummy's head right before it shoots the light at you. Officers say we're supposed to predict the enemy's next move."

That made things complicated; I was too short to reach the dummies' heads. "Got it," I turned away. I was ready to move when she called out to me.

"None of us have figured it out yet, though. The ones that do aren't allowed to tell anyone."

My reply was a smile. "Ok!"

The next light had already gone off. Running to the nearest trainee I yelled, "That one! Hit it now!" and pointed at the dummy four to the left.

The trainee flustered and tried to run forward to the dummy but it shot the light right when he moved to hit its head.

Shaking my head I moved to the next trainee and pointed out the next dummy, five to the right. This trainee moved instantly and hit the dummy. A 'ding' sounded and the dummy glowed green. All of the other trainees turned and stared.

"Next!" At my yell they turned to me. "Spread out! The next light is over there!" As if all in one movement the trainees fanned out in front of the dummies, an equal distance between each of them. For the next few minutes I pointed out the dummies to hit. Unfortunately, the fewer dummies that were left on the faster the lights came.

The dummies that were still on were far apart from each other and shooting rapidly. Fewer and fewer trainees were left in the area with me. I stood on one of the desks near the center to see everything more clearly and continued to call out which dummy was next.

When the second-to-last dummy went down, I stared straight at it and grinned. There was only one left. Wait…!

The last dummy was right behind me, and the only trainee left was on the other side of the area. I was not going to get hit! I turned and launched myself off the desk toward the dummy, glad that the desk gave me enough height to reach the dummy's head.

I failed to think farther than that, though, and collided face-first with the dummy's head. The dummy fell backward with me on top of it. A green glow filled my sight and I started to laugh. "I did it!"

Suddenly I was lifted into the air and a hand ruffled my hair. "That you did kiddo!" James exclaimed, laughing with me. "Good job!" He put me on my feet and turned toward the trainees who were with me in the area. "Now you all should learn from Aster here. What did he think of that none of you did?"

Some of the trainees glanced at each other, others muttered quietly. The lady who got shot for me spoke up, "Teamwork, sir."

That was not what I thought, but James seemed to accept the answer. "Explain, Johnson."

"In the previous round all of us were fighting for ourselves and we got in each other's way more often than the lights got us. With Aster's leadership we worked together and collectively beat the system."

James nodded. "…any other answers?"

More of the trainees started to speak up and I tuned them out. One of the Aurors was picking up the dummy I knocked down. "Um… I'm sorry, sir. I didn't break it, did I?"

The Auror chuckled. "It's alright, kid. It's got a bit of a crack on it, but it'll still do its job. See?" He righted the dummy and a long crack ran down the dummy's face. The crack started above its right eye and traveled straight down towards its mouth.

Sharp cold dowsed my insides and I felt heat gather behind my eyes. … The visage in front of me was no longer the face of a broken dummy. Instead, the glare of red and green eyes screamed disapproval at me. I shut my eyes closed, trying to erase the image from my mind until the heat settled down. The cold feeling lingered down my spine, though. Absently my mind reached for a connection I knew was too far for me to grasp. All in a single moment I felt horrible. What was I doing playing games with James?

I felt my eyebrow twitch uncomfortably at the mental rhyme.

Rubbing my eye with one hand, I tugged James' sleeve with the other. "I'm tired… can we go back now?"

James lightly chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Alright, kiddo, let's go home now."

After a few minutes of brushing off James' concerns I got back to my room. The first time I stepped back here when I was separated from Harry I hated this room. It reminded me of the childhood I cherished, the same childhood my brother missed out on. Everything had been in the same place as when I left it and still remained there. I never brought myself up to touching any of my previously beloved toys or trinkets. While the memories saddened me now there wasn't enough in me to get rid of anything either.

Now, back in this room I hated it again. Only this time my anger was directed inward as well.

Was it so easy for me to forget? Was I so weak to let myself fall back into this easy fun? I roughly shook my fingers in my hair and paced around my room. With a kick to one of my bedposts, I let the pain in my foot absorb some of my frustration. I was such a… such a little kid! Sure it's fun when James takes me flying, or when Uncle Remus plays chess with me, or when Dumbledore teaches me about magic (no wand-waving 'til I'm eleven), or when –ah, that's not the point! I can't let myself… I _won't_ let myself be a little kid! There are too many things I need to do.

How could I forget? How could I forget about Harry? …again?

A strangled yell escaped my throat and with it a series of bangs as every piece of furniture in my room cracked or shattered. Further noise filled the air as toys and clothing fell around me. The strength in me vanished and I stumbled to my knees. I glared as a piece of wood hit my leg, taking the offensive debris and chucking it against the far wall. My vision blurred as tears spilled down my cheeks.

"Aster? Is everything alright in there?" James' voice did nothing but irritate me further.

"Leave me alone!"

I tensed as I heard my doorknob turning but Uncle Remus saved the day. "James, I'm sure he's fine. Let me take care of this. You've still got some work to finish."

Hurried whispering went on for a short while longer before footsteps signaled James' departure. I turned so my back was to the door and said nothing as Uncle Remus entered the room. Even after the small 'click' of the door closing, neither of us said a word. Finding another small piece of wood near me I fidgeted with it while I waited for Uncle Remus to say something. There was no way I was going to break the silence.

"Again, Aster?" I knew he would not be able to wait in silence for long. "I know it's been longer since the last time this happened –and it's certainly a good thing it's not once a week anymore– but you should talk to me when you feel this bad. Will you finally let me know what's wrong this time?"

Sniffling in reply I wiped my eyes and shook my head. My frame shook with unresolved tension. I wanted to scream and yell more. Everyday James acted like nothing happened… that nothing had changed. _Everything _had changed. It made remembering Harry, remembering his goal so much harder. I calmed slightly when I decided it was all James' fault.

Uncle Remus stood behind me in silence. I could practically hear his thoughts as he debated questioning me about it again. Like every time, though, he sighed and gave up. "Come on, kiddo, let's fix your room."

Standing up, I turned to see Uncle Remus with his wand out, handle towards me. I blinked. Twice. "Uncle Remus…?"

The man laughed and ruffled my hair with his free hand. "You're almost ten, right?" He winked and added, "I think with the headmaster teaching you theory it's okay to let you practice a little." When I stood there for a moment longer he took my hand and put the wand in it. "Here, why don't you give it a wave first so we can see if it likes you?"

The wood felt smooth in my hand, almost as if it was not wood but something else. Under my fingers I could feel the grain of the wood running along the wand. Hesitance discarded, I faced my destroyed room and twirled the wand a little.

Immediately a pile of wood made a popping noise. A small spark jumped in the air before a tendril of smoke rose out of the pile. I heard Uncle Remus move to get the wand from me, but I remembered a spell Dumbledore told me about and waved the wand again. "Aguamenti!"

The book said a stream of water was supposed to come out of the wand. What happened instead was my ceiling started to rain down on the entire room. This wasn't a drizzle, either, but a down-pouring rain.

Thinking back to Dumbledore's lessons again, I thought of the Drying Spell and tried it. A rough wind started to pick up, turning the rain into a mini hurricane.

At this point, Uncle Remus grabbed my hand. I was determined to fix my own mistakes, though, and in a flash a spell came to mind and I yelled "Finite!" To my relief the rain and wind stopped, leaving a wetter and crazier room than before.

Uncle Remus gently took the wand back and performed the Drying Spell correctly.

Undaunted by my spectacular failure, I turned and grabbed the taller man's sleeve. "Uncle… may I try one more time? Just one more spell? Please?"

Remus considered the younger boy tugging his sleeve. When Aster returned with Harry, the boy seemed emotionally volatile. He assumed that separating them would mellow him out and thus supported James' winning custody of Aster; however the opposite had been the case. The currently destroyed room around them only exemplified how Aster's emotions were far from settling down though months have passed since the twins were forced apart.

Thankfully, distracting the child's mind seemed to help keep his emotions at bay. When playing chess and during the headmaster's lessons about magic, Aster appeared happy, childlike, and overall himself again.

It was why Remus thought to allow Aster to try fixing the room on his own. While Remus' wand appeared testy in Aster's hands, the 'Finite' did work… Thinking about the boy's talents, he thought of a spell that would likely work better.

He handed Aster his wand again. "Okay." The bright smile on the child's face told Remus he made the right decision, but he still cut in. "We're going to try the 'Reparo' spell, okay Aster? Did the headmaster tell you about that one?" At Aster's nod he continued, "So like you've been taught, imagine what you're trying to fix is supposed to look like and then perform the spell."

Before Remus had the chance to suggest trying to fix the chair first, Aster pointed the wand at the room and yelled, "Reparo!"

Watching the spell unfold, he wished Aster had repaired a chair first. The werewolf's legs buckled, his arm shooting out to brace himself against a wall, and nearly forgot to breathe.


	11. Mental Deja Vu

As Aster's Reparo spell worked on the room, Remus almost forgot to breathe. He chose the spell since it was a low-powered one, a spell first years could attempt on their first day at Hogwarts, but it was the visual aspect that was generally lost on most students. Seeing Aster's room practically rebuilding itself before his eyes, he marveled at how influential Aster's photographic memory was on the spell. Despite not having a perfect memory himself, Remus could tell the room was exactly how Aster remembered it.

His admiration of the room ended when Aster promptly began to faint. "You did well, Pup," he whispered to the tired boy and watched as a smile blossomed on Aster's face before he fell asleep. The older man laid the sleeping child on his newly recreated bed and tucked him in.

Turning to leave, he braced himself to deal with a troubled James. With a small bit of hope _this_ time James didn't pop open a bottle of Firewhiskey. Being a single father was exactly _not_ what the head Marauder was suited for.

Stirring to wakefulness, I wondered how many times I would wake up wondering how I got to sleep. Was there some sort of requirement attached to the title of Boy-Who-Lived where I needed to fall unconscious at least once every other day? I imagined Harry saying it was my entire fault and to stop blaming external circumstances. At that thought I remembered the cause of this most recent knockout of mine and realized I was in my restored bed.

There was no way to restrain the smile that stretched across my lips when I saw how well my Reparo spell had worked. The warmth in my chest made me reluctant to find fault in the memories associated with the toys and furniture around me. Instead of thinking about a childhood Harry missed out, maybe it was better to think of all the things I would introduce Harry to. This room would serve as a reminder of everything Harry was owed; all of the joy and happiness a normal child should have experienced. I decided to explore the room and got out of bed.

My fingers ran along my dresser, my eyes resting on the mismatched handles of the drawers. When I was four I tried climbing the handles to get to the top and ended up snapping off some of the handles. I was rewarded with a bump on my head. That was also the first time I got to see my father in his element; Transfiguration. Father transfigured animal-shaped handles to replace the broken ones to both amaze me and discourage me from climbing on them again. I wondered if Harry ever tried to climb anything around the orphanage.

Up above, flying around in a circle were my favorite toys: a snitch, a dragon, a Pegasus, and an owl. By the time I was seven Mother thought I was old enough to not need them to sleep anymore (or stuff in my mouth) so she made them fly around the ceiling. That way I could keep them but I wouldn't be able to reach them. That was one of the first times I saw Mother perform charms as well. Before then I only saw the end results. Watching her cast was so cool with the way she could make anything do whatever she wanted it to.

There on my bed were my sky and cloud sheets. The pillows were shaped like clouds too. I remembered telling Uncle Remus that it made me feel as if I was floating while I slept. Sleeping used to be difficult before then. My mind was constantly racing around my thoughts and memories, never settling down. It still happens, sometimes. When I pretend I'm floating in the sky I can get myself to relax enough to sleep. Otherwise I have to physically exhaust myself to convince my body to sleep.

Thinking about it, I still had not seen what Harry looked like when he slept. He always either woke up before me or was only unconscious and not truly sleeping. Would he look peaceful? How would that look on my brother's face? I promised myself that I would make it so every night Harry could sleep peacefully. He deserves it the same as any other normal kid.

Over in the corner was my training broom. James made sure to start teaching me how to fly as soon as Mother told him I was old enough.

With a soft smile I remembered the first time I spoke to Harry after we got separated.

_It was only a few weeks following the separation but I was still feeling Harry's absence as if the separation were the day before. In the middle of a bath I suddenly felt Harry's presence. I jumped out of the bath to the mirror, and sure enough there was a deep red eye in the place of my green one._

_"…Harry? Are you there?"_

_"Aster."__ His voice in mind brought a vibrant grin to my face. __"This is a wonderfully bittersweet moment, brother."_

_Just then, it clicked in my mind. __"What happened, Harry? What knocked you out? No one's attacking Uncle Sev's place, right?"_

_Harry quickly cut in, __"Do not panic, Aster. I… was attempting to fly."_

_The cold air hit my skin and reminded me of my state of undress. I plopped back into the tub, playing with some bubbles as I spoke with my brother. __"By yourself? You didn't ask Uncle Sirius to help you? He was really good at flying at Hogwarts. James and Uncle Remus tell me stories about it all the time."_

_"I was unaware of his skills. It was remiss of me to avoid asking, however the concept appeared simple enough to grasp on my own."__ Harry probably wasn't used to asking adults for help. Maybe this would encourage him to get closer to Uncle Sirius and Uncle Severus._

_I chuckled. __"Well, thinking about it is different from actually doing it, you know."_

_Harry huffed in my mind. __"I arrived at that conclusion quite painfully."_

_"Are you okay?"_

_"I… should be. I do not clearly recall what happened before reaching your mind, honestly."_

_My thoughts instinctively reached for Harry's memories when I stopped myself. "__Can I…?"_

_Somehow I felt my brother's mental nod, "__You may.__"_

_The memory played out between us and instantly I could see how different memories were for people without a photographic memory. We were watching from Harry's point-of-view, and his hand was clearly in focus holding the handle of a broomstick. I tried to see where we were but I could only vaguely make out grass beneath Harry's feet and some trees in the distance._

_"__The house is behind us,__" Harry said. "__I only stepped right outside of the building keeping the wards in mind. I cannot see them, however I presumed hovering over the ground a small distance would be allowed.__"_

_In the memory Harry put the broom on the ground. His hand stuck out in the air above the broom and for a while rested there. I could feel Harry's arm getting tired. Coinciding with the pain in his arm his heart thumped loudly within his ears, every moment or so swallowing or fidgeting with his other hand. Suddenly he clenched his other hand and stood up straighter. With a confident voice he said, "Up!" The broom snapped up into the air and into his hand._

_Standing there, I could feel the warmth spreading through Harry as he felt the wood beneath his fingertips. The name of the broom was unclear, doubtless due to Harry not really caring about the brand. It took a while for him to straddle the broom, but when he did he quickly gathered the confidence to softly kick off from the ground. Thoughts of passages from books on flying flitted past within the memory while Harry concentrated on hovering just above the ground._

_With time Harry started feeling more comfortable and rose a bit higher in the air. At that moment, a flock of birds swiftly took off from within the trees. Their cacophony of calls and wing-flapping startled Harry and he flinched, jerking the handle of the broom._

_That's when things went wrong. _

_With the jerk of the handle the broom instantly reacted, the end of the broom kicking to the side. Harry, in an attempt to right the broom, jerked the handle in the other direction only to further exacerbate the situation. The broom began bucking around midair and his body tensed. A glance to the faraway ground caused Harry to flatten himself onto the broom, clutching it so tightly my hands started to hurt reliving the memory. Unfortunately, Harry's actions simply catapulted the broom forward straight toward the trees._

_A shout rang out from behind us._

_There was just enough time for Harry to turn back and see Uncle Sirius burst out from the house, running toward Harry. The next second Uncle Sirius vanished and a sleeved arm embraced Harry from behind. Immediately afterward there was the sound of wood snapping, something cracking, and a chunk of debris smacked Harry in the face before everything went black._

_"__That was certainly enlightening.__"_

_A part of me wanted to start raving to Harry about how Uncle Sirius saved Harry and that it was proof he was a good person, however Harry's tone made it sound as if he was already replaying the memory within his own mind. I hoped he would become closer to at least Uncle Sirius now. It would be nice if both of them could be happier once they truly befriended each other. _"_So… you're not going to start pulling ridiculous suicidal stunts in order for you to get knocked out so we can talk, right?"_

_"Aster, I am not some barbarically idiotic Neanderthal too dependent on another's relationship with me that I would mistake my priorities as that of solely containing a wish for emotional fulfillment after apparently lacking the strength of will to survive without you."_

_"…I think some of those words mean the same thing, Harry."_

_"I admit I may have hyperbolized."_

_" It was funny, though!"_

_"…thank you."_

After that we could both feel Harry drifting back into consciousness and reluctantly I let him go. As much as I wanted to fill him in on everything I was doing, I knew it probably wouldn't be that interesting to him. Plus, Harry still needed to find out if he really was okay physically and if Uncle Sirius was alright (though I was the one who actually voiced concern over Uncle Sirius' wellbeing). Harry deserved a normal childhood and I was going to do everything possible to give that to him. While Harry would have fun learning to fly with Uncle Sirius, I would learn how to protect my brother from people like James and Dumbledore.

When Harry initially woke up after the flying incident, he found his head and neck wrapped in a way that he could not immediately get up. He cracked his eyes open and was surprised to see Severus walking around the room. The man's back was to him, the older man's attention on another person sitting down, and Harry resisted the urge to nod with the realization that Severus was not there for him. He guessed the other person was Sirius, and Severus' words proved his guess correct.

"Why you insist on idiotically torturing yourself in this chair escapes me, Sirius." The man's voice was softer than its usual drawl. The sound of it seemed odd to Harry, the tone unfamiliar to him. While the words were clearly a reprimand, Severus' voice merely breathed the words and lacked force. "Your arm may still heal, however your cracked ribs will only further be strained when you fall asleep here."

So, Sirius was alive but had sustained significant injuries by saving Harry. Did Sirius know he was risking such injury when he ran out of the house? Harry doubted it. Likely the man reacted impulsively and would not have come to Harry's rescue so quickly if he knew the consequences. The broom could have been a relic or prized possession the man was horrified to see misused.

A gruff chuckle interrupted by a sharp wheeze alerted Harry to Sirius' reply. "My godson was in danger, Sev; you know I couldn't just stand there and watch him launch into a tree."

"That broom is temperamental at best and you were so wrapped up in heroics you didn't even think to cast a cushioning spell. The residual magic accompanying a shattered broom creates a wooden grenade and I know you know that. Splinters travelling too fast could have pierced your heart, one did embed itself in your wrist, and one nearly took out Harry's eye. You're lucky he shall only have an additional scar on his face and nothing more serious."

"_I'm_ more Sirius than anyone."

Severus took a long suffering sigh, his hand clenching for a moment. "Nevertheless, you have a habit of allowing your emotions to overrule any semblance of self-preservation."

"And _you_ have a habit of making anyone who cares about you think you hate them."

"I was trying to protect you from those overprotective lions you called housemates."

"I was trying to protect you from those manipulative snakes you called housemates."

For a moment Harry thought Severus was going to actually hit Sirius this time, injured or not. Instead the man sighed again. "We were both too young and prideful to see it. Still, if you persist on remaining here at least allow me to transfigure you a couch rather than this simple chair. You need sleep, mutt."

"I want to be awake when Harry gets up. I need to know he's fine."

"You don't trust my skills?" Before Sirius responded Severus continued, "No matter, the boy is healing and he'll awake when he's ready to. I need to retrieve the next batch of solvent and bandages for his forehead." With a wave of his wand and a short yelp from Sirius, Severus changed the chair into a couch from right underneath the Animagus. "Sleep."

Harry closed his eyes when Severus turned away and thought about the eavesdropped conversation. He presumed he understood why Sirius saved him and why Severus was in the room. To discover he was wrong on both accounts unsettled him. His instincts regarding human nature, his familiarity with general knowledge was what allowed him to learn so quickly growing up and it was all he knew and trusted. For as long as he could remember he'd felt a mental 'déjà vu' whenever he read a book or met someone. He sensed as if he were only filling in blanks somewhere within his mind. It was what made the orphanage so boring, so predictable.

At first, Aster was the only person who he had trouble figuring out. To have Sirius and Severus join the list riled his emotions in ways he could not yet define. What was he supposed to do now? His first instinct with his twin was to do everything in his power to make Aster like him, trust him, and never want to leave his side even if it meant lying to him.

He paused his thoughts and chided himself. It was one event, one unpredictable happening. Harry didn't have to do anything. Nothing was different.

If after his recovery he spoke more often to the two grown men, it was a coincidence. His starting to help Sirius with cooking breakfast was only because the man's arm was still healing and learning how to cook wasn't a part of his 'mental déjà vu'. Giving the excuse of learning also allowed him to start asking Lily and Severus about their work. Lily was overjoyed and always gave more than the simple answer, whereas Severus only directed Harry to books to read with an extensive quiz given within the next few days.

His newfound curiosity was the subject of much teasing from Saphyr. "_You're indulging these others, Master, why? Will they not turn on you like the others? Did that mark alter your mind?"_

Raising his hand to his forehead, Harry traced his new scar. The vertical scar running down his face was now joined by a shorter horizontal one above his eye.

_"Everything is different here, Saphyr… the children at the orphanage never spared a moment for what I thought or felt but these three adults care so much for my favor or slight good will that they are willing to accommodate nearly every wish or desire I profess to them. In the beginning they were unsure and fearful, and thus predictable. After Aster was taken away and Sirius saved my life I realized I couldn't treat them the way I did those at the orphanage. My silence and hesitance toward any semblance of rapport with them was largely counterproductive in regards to maintaining a positive relationship. Still, I am unused to handling this. All of this is so new and confusing."_

The serpent shifted within her coil on the bed. "_Are you bored, Master?"_

Harry's lips spread into a smile as he shook his head. "_Not in the least, Saphyr. I'm fascinated."_

**Author's Note: **A relatively shorter update due to my guilt at the prolonged wait between chapters.


	12. Minuscule Vines of Color

Minuscule Vines of Color

The scratching of a quill on parchment normally annoyed most wizards, yet for Severus it grounded his thoughts as he watched Harry fill out his latest quiz. That hectic day when Sirius took the disillusionment spell off the twins, Severus reacted the same way any man who ever met and feared the Dark Lord would have once that red serpentine eye came into view; ice gripped his heart, his Occlumency shields snapped up higher, and he made sure his wand was in reach. The only difference this time was that there was now a flame burning in his soul. Death was no longer acceptable despite his blackened conscience. Damn mutt changing his life.

Severus also reluctantly admitted that the near-Polyjuice resemblance to James threw him into prejudiced irritation at first glance at the twins. Such a prejudice reinforced his presumption that Harry's eye was an ill omen and that Aster's playfulness was a sign of a future prankster. It was a fond pastime of the mutt to remind Severus of his tendency to stereotype and judge others, however oftentimes the Potions Master would remain stubborn in his believed-accurate assessment of them.

The twins' interactions with each other thankfully righted his misconceptions. Attested by Sirius' laughter, the pair of boys sounded much like how he and Lily used to banter in their childhood days. In an enlightening moment, Severus thought he caught a glimpse of what others saw in _him_ as a child by watching Harry's calm, analytical demeanor at his age. Instead of a boy possessed by an adult megalomaniac Severus saw a wary, quiet, _hurt_ child forced to see the dark reality past all of the fairytales all too soon. Part of him wanted to maintain skepticism over the boy's experiences however many orphanages in Britain were overlooked, disregarded, and often left without proper maintenance or surveillance.

A soft hissing caught Severus' attention and he caught sight of Saphyr slithering across Harry's shoulders. The Jeweled Aqua was an interesting creature as a wizard's pet. Their scales were useful in potions meant to allow borrowing another animal's abilities: for example the night-vision of an owl or the hearing of a bat. There were also recent reports on successful research for human-to-animal communication as well. Overall, however, the species tended to avoid humans and successfully evade most attempts to seek them out. Most encounters with a Jeweled Aqua happened where the snake approached the wizard, or the wizard happened upon one by accident. By all documented accounts, once a Jeweled Aqua contacted a witch or wizard, it never left.

The thought caused Severus' heart to clench. Not in jealousy as it would have in his foolish youth, but in concern. Surprised, he pondered over the instinctual reaction. His thoughts travelled back to his school days and what happened to those sorted into Slytherin or associated with its members. The harsh words of childish prejudices never bothered him but with sharp clarity he remembered the teasing Lily suffered for befriending a 'slimy snake'. Severus stopped his train of thought before his irritation built into anger.

Harry's chair scraped against the floor as the boy gathered his materials and brought the finished quiz to Severus' desk. The Potions Master only needed to glance at the sheet to see it would require few corrections however he still looked it over to honestly give Harry a nod. If living with Sirius taught him anything, it was that children required obvious acknowledgement. "Adequate work once again," he said, tapping the parchment with his wand to dry the ink. "I'm also glad to see you are becoming more familiar with writing with a quill."

"Thank you, sir."

The response made Severus glance up at Harry to see a blank expression on the boy's face. His students commonly addressed him as 'sir', and Harry picked up on that soon after Aster first left, however following the flying incident the elder Potter child called Severus 'Uncle' for the first time since the twins' separation. He had not realized how much the title affected him these past couple of months until the 'Uncle' switched back to 'sir'.

Had he done something to upset the boy?

Severus scanned the nearly perfect quiz in his hands. "Are these quizzes too easy for you?"

For a moment Harry simply blinked at Severus.

"It's all right; I will take no offense if it is true. It would be my fault for not assigning you material appropriate to your intellect. However, I will remind you, if there is anything you need help–"

"I do not _need help_."

Onyx eyes snapped up to meet crimson and emerald, both sets narrowed. Immediately afterward Harry's eyes widened and his suddenly clenched hands relaxed. Saphyr hissed noisily as the snake slithered up Harry's neck, and the boy's hand came up to meet the snake's head.

"I–"

A wave of a hand stopped Harry's words and the Potions Master merely raised an eyebrow at the boy, despite Severus' reflexive desire to scold Harry for cheek and interrupting. "You may rest assured, Harry, that I had no intention of suggesting your incompetence." Harry's hand almost clenching again was enough of a reaction to affirm Severus' speculation. "Far from it, in fact: now that you are done with the preliminary reading I believe you are ready to attempt brewing. We will begin the day after next."

Without another word Harry left the room, leaving the Potions Master with his thoughts. Another incident. How many times had it been, now? Every now and then the boy would snap at him, Sirius, or even Lily with defensive agitation at the slightest trigger. Admittedly he knew the boy for less than a year, and yet these recent interactions were decidedly unusual. Harry himself seemed surprised at his own words each time. Holding the image of the boy's narrowed eyes and otherwise blank expression in mind, Severus thought back to Harry's panic attack when Aster left.

_Harry fell to his knees, his head in his hands. Severus swept down to the floor and moved to grasp Harry's shoulders before holding back. Touching the shaking boy may exacerbate the situation rather than soothe it. _

"_Harry, calm down." Thankfully his command worked and Harry stood. With a slight flick of his wand Severus wordlessly cancelled the silencing spell and prepared for a further emotional breakdown._

_Harry remained standing there silently, hands clenched into fists instead of clutching his hair. After a few moments, the boy shook his head and took a deep breath. His eyes remained closed until his hands finally relaxed. Instead of yells or tears Severus was answered by a blank stare. _

"_I am calm."_

Soon after that, every attempt to draw Harry's attention was rejected unless it related to academia, Wizarding history, or culture. Lily was the first to suggest talking to Harry about the adults' prospective areas of expertise. She thought of the idea after she asked to modify Harry's portkey necklace and was met with the boy's questions on how it worked and what she was altering and how. The portkey now included a weak Disillusionment Charm. Though it wouldn't hold up against many of the simplest counters, Lily hoped if Harry was already camouflaged any assailants wouldn't think to use one.

In a similar fashion Severus decided to brew in one of the kitchen's cauldrons instead of the tutoring room ones during meal times. Harry asked few questions, choosing to simply watch the Potions Master work. The Slytherin was glad the boy could tell when Severus was uncomfortable with talking while brewing. Distracting his thoughts was unacceptable when brewing a Calming Draught. He always found the tense precision of the recipe ironic.

Sirius, despite his helpful knowledge of Wizarding customs and traditions, decided to talk to Harry about Quidditch.

"How is this remotely relevant or useful?" was Harry's initial response to Sirius' ravings on the sport. The Animagus then went on to implore the necessity of flying for all wizards and witches. A speech that led to Harry's flying incident.

Following the incident, Harry appeared to be warming up to the adults, asking Lily and Severus more questions and learning how to cook with Sirius. Still, any implication of ignorance, inferiority, or incompetence led to fierce anger. The anger never lasted long, and its short length always came as a surprise.

One theory was that Harry reacted in this fashion since the beginning and this was only apparent now that Aster disappeared. That theory _felt_ incorrect to Severus and the lack of concrete evidence bothered him. His other theory, though…

"_Potter's here, Aster," Severus whispered. The gall of the Ministry to tear these twins apart–! Yet, the former Death Eater felt ice cold guilt drench his thoughts as his past mistakes contributed to the twins' current pain. In their letter, the Ministry outright blamed his and Sirius' presence for their decision to grant James custody of Aster._

_Aster held his unconscious brother in his arms on the floor, one hand petting Harry's hair. "Can you wake up my brother? Or at least let him sleep?"_

_Eyeing the wreckage of bookshelves off to the side, Severus let out a soft sigh. "Risking his ire goes against my instincts."_

"_Please." The whisper alerted Severus of an added complexity to the situation. He spelled the door shut._

"_Is something wrong, Aster?" He ignored Lily calling out from the hallway._

_Aster took a deep breath. The small act sparked a wave of tension through Severus. The boy lifted his head and locked eyes with the taller man. Red and gold met onyx eyes and Severus' thoughts froze. The red eye was not slitted as Harry's was, but the image of a red iris still evoked fear in the Potion Master's heart._

The twins appeared connected to each other's presence, and separation brought about significant side-effects. At least, that was the development in Harry's case. As there were no major articles about the Boy-Who-Lived suffering a similar panic attack, nor was there James pounding on the door demanding if anyone bewitched Aster, Severus could only assume Aster was not as deeply affected by the twins' separation.

Perhaps Aster was affected by the twins' reunion…

Severus gathered the parchment on his desk and waved it away with his wand. He would look through it thoroughly later. He needed to speak with Lily.

* * *

He found Lily in the library, researching her next Charms project. A small smile curved his lips. One good thing that came out of Aster's disappearance and Harry's accident was that Lily needed to distract herself. Harry's curiosity in all things magical and his inquiries into Lily's work inspired her to start a new invention.

_Magical Properties of Precious Gems _was open in front of her, her emerald eyes slowly roaming down its pages. Her right hand held the pages down while her left hand rolled around a few gems as vibrant as the woman's own jewel-toned eyes.

Looking at the orange-colored gems in her hand he lightly scoffed. "Amber… really, Lily?"

Severus let out a chuckle as Lily jumped in her chair, the gems flying into the air. With a flick of his wand Severus brought them down safely onto the table and sat down in front of her.

Lily swatted at the air in front of her, her other hand on her heart. "Severus I never hear you walk in. Can't you wear a bell or something?" At his glare she laughed. "You know I'm kidding. Anyway, these aren't amber they're actually Sphalerite, a lesser-known gem. I was wondering if I could make use of the fact that its dispersion is high yet it's quite malleable. I'm still experimenting with colors as well, and it comes in a few other colors." Suddenly Lily blushed and pushed her materials away. "You didn't come to hear me babble about my work, though, right?"

"I thoroughly enjoy you talking about your work, Lily, and I noticed it fascinates Harry as well."

Her blush faded and Lily gave a small smile. "How is he doing with your quizzes? You're not making him write essays are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Severus picked up one of her gems and turned it over in his hands. "The boy is still becoming accustomed to writing with a quill. I am still uncertain if he even knows how to write his letters regardless of his reading ability." With a nod to Lily he continued, "You were the one who introduced me to the concept of 'multiple choice' tests. I was actually more concerned that the tests may be too easy for him." Here he watched Lily's face during his next confession. "When I offered assistance he snapped at me."

At the mention of the incident, Lily's blush vanished along with her smile. "I should've guessed why you were here. Did you figure out what was wrong with Harry?" Severus simply raised an eyebrow at her words. Lily sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know, you were expecting my usual fire. I'm just… I'm tired of being an emotional wreck, Severus. You were right: it's unproductive, unsightly, and uncharacteristic of me to yell and cry so much in so few days. It's only that I tend to overreact when it comes to my babies." Her eyes darkened, then. "I would die for them."

_You almost did_.

The thought rang through Severus' mind and pulled forth memories that plagued his nightmares. That Halloween night he moved with a speed he was unaware he possessed after discovering the Dark Lord targeted Lily's boys. He knew family was Lily's first priority and what she would sacrifice to protect her family. Seeing her red hair flowing out from under debris when he arrived at Godric's Hollow stopped his heart and almost paralyzed him. His hands remembered the dozens of splinters he earned from throwing off roof beams and chunks of wall from Lily's prone form. In his panic he forgot his magic and his wand. It was only when James and Sirius showed up, both clad in Auror robes brandishing their wands, and the debris flew away from his childhood friend that Severus wondered at the glory of magic.

"Severus." His softly spoken name broke him away from his memories.

He nodded to Lily in apology but she waved away his moment of inattention. "What did you find out?"

"I am still uncertain as to the underlying causes of the sudden change in Harry's demeanor, however I believe we can all confidently assert that the change happened almost immediately following the twins' separation. However, I am here not to ask about Harry but to ask about Aster." In response to Lily's widened eyes Severus continued, "Did you notice a significant shift in Aster's personality after he brought Harry back? I am aware of the chaotic and sudden nature of the events surrounding their immediate return. In light of such events, I am certain you would still have noticed a difference."

Delaying her answer, Lily took back the gem from Severus' hands and turned it in the light. "Gems always fascinated me," she said, watching as the gem reflected different colors onto her other hand. "In the dark they can appear so dull but the moment they touch the light an array of color bursts into being. The light seems to multiply." She turned to look at Severus and her hands went back to rolling around the gem idly. "Aster was like that. Soon after he learned to read, he was always in the library. He read about charms, flying, animals, and even Wizarding bloodlines. Every day he had a dictionary beside whatever book he was reading, and Remus spelled a book that made it easier for Aster to find certain terms. He became a very quiet child. And then…"

Severus followed Lily's gaze as she turned away from him. On the other side of the room was the fireplace framed by armchairs. Lily's eyes rested on one in particular, Harry's preferred seat. Beside the chair a small stack of books rested on a short stand with the potions book Severus most recently assigned Harry sitting on top of the stack.

"And then Aster found Harry."

Lily nodded at Severus' words. "With all of the excitement immediately following Aster's return with Harry I didn't notice it at the time, but Aster was louder, more lively than before. He seemed so… carefree at Harry's side. Was the celebrity of the Boy-Who-Lived too much for a child so young? How could I not notice he was so troubled?" As she started working herself up into another fit, the gem fell from her hand and hit the table below. The sound of it jolted Lily into silence and she gave a weak laugh. "Sorry, I'm fine." She dismissed Severus' silently proffered Calming Draught. "Remus wrote to me the other day and said Aster's stopped reading for pleasure. He plays chess, flies with James… part of me thinks he was only reading so much to find Harry but then sometimes I think it's as if…"

"…as if Aster were reading in place of Harry, filling in a gap caused by Harry's absence."

Despite believing he had outgrown his childhood habits, a fierce pointed stare from Lily still triggered a spike of nervousness in the former Death Eater.

"You _do_ know something, Severus; out with it."

Severus lightly shook his head and folded his hands in front of him on the table while he regained composure. "As I iterated earlier, I know nothing for certain. My conjectures require confirmation otherwise they shall remain merely theories, not facts."

"What do you need?"

"A bit of Harry's blood." Forestalling Lily's obvious objections, Severus continued, "Only a few drops, Lily. I require his blood to properly key him into my wards in any case, as the boy needs the ability to easily return without the hassle of one of us granting him permission every instance. My test simply requires a single drop of blood."

"Only one? What kind of test-? Never mind…"

In this instance Severus was thankful for Lily's squeamish nature concerning Darker brands of magic. His test was actually legal and common among pureblood circles –it was Sirius who first told him about it years ago– however it was more convenient that his friend remain ignorant until an appropriate time. For now, he had a potion to brew.

* * *

Harry sat on the edge of his bed and ran a hand through his hair as he watched Saphyr swim in her bowl of water. The memory of his outburst at Severus earlier flashed through his mind and he grimaced, shaking his head forcefully to rid his mind of the image. These violent reactions were confusing and admittedly embarrassing. It made Harry feel childish, throwing these tantrums. He even tested it with Saphyr once before, telling her to insult his intelligence. That he almost flung the serpent at the nearest wall appalled him.

What was going on?

Searching for calm as he thought, Harry turned his attention to Saphyr's glistening scales as she swam in her bowl.

"_Where did this bowl come from, Saphyr? Do you know?_" Speaking in Parseltongue was so much easier for Harry. Isolating himself in the orphanage at a young age limited his practice with English. He spoke with Sally, however the young girl's speech was worse than most of the orphanage's children. The majority of his time and attention was spent with Saphyr, and so his serpent tongue was much more fluent. Whenever he spoke he felt he was translating his thoughts from the snake language to English every time.

Saphyr gave a flick of her tail and rose up to rest her head on the edge of the bowl. "_The canine made it. The silent one informed the canine of my preference for water._"

Ever amused by Saphyr's names for Sirius and Severus, he focused on the new information. "_Sirius _made _it? Not purchase or bring it here?_"

"_There was a cup of sand and water before, Master._"

With that in mind Harry inspected Saphyr's bowl. The water was cool to the touch and surrounded a small island of sand. Atop the island were small trees and a tiny blue chair. It was an intricate bit of magic.

_Transfiguration_.

The word leapt to the front of Harry's mind and caused him to rear back away from Saphyr's bowl. Here was the other peculiar happening. Alongside the bursts of agitation, his mental déjà vu had intensified to include words periodically springing to mind when he encountered a new object, person, or piece of magic.

Shelving the word for further research, Harry thought back to the first instance of his mind supplying him with new knowledge.

_The fireplace flared up in a blaze of green fire and instantly Harry was on his feet ready to fight. Lily, Severus, and Sirius were already in the house. All unexpected guests so far were hostile toward Harry and he figured this guest would be no different._

_Sirius, sitting closer to the fireplace, noticed Harry's actions and watched as the guest's visage came fully into view. Soon he discreetly waved a hand, shaking his head toward Harry. Was he signaling for Harry to back down?_

_A tall man with long pale blond hair now stood in the library. Thin hands were folded in front of him. As he was sitting off to the side Harry was out of immediate sight and moved further behind the new arrival. The blond man turned his head and saw Sirius. Harry's vision was obscured but he caught sight of the man holding out a bit of rolled parchment toward Sirius._

"_Evening, Black."_

_Sirius gave a weak chuckle. "Hey Lucy, what're you doing here so late?"_

"_You have eyes, Grim." Harry blinked at the odd title, storing it for reference later. 'Lucy' continued, "There has been an expedited request for the Agency, specifically you." With the way the man's head tilted up, Harry thought the man may be addressing the ceiling._

_Eyes darting between Lucy and Harry, Sirius ran his hand through his hair. "Yes, well, I should go then?"_

_No, he couldn't leave yet. Harry didn't know who this visitor was and he wanted answers if Sirius meant to imply this man could be trusted. The visitor seemed familiar somehow, a feeling entirely ludicrous to Harry as a newcomer to this Wizarding World._

"_Sirius." Harry sat back down in his chair before calling out to his godfather. The urge to remain standing on the offensive was defeated by the possibility of appearing frightened by the guest. He would not appear weak._

_Sirius jumped into the air while the blond whipped around to stare at Harry._

"_Now this is a surprise," the blond said, his eyes fixated on Harry's eye. "I was unaware the Daily Prophet began writing accurate articles." He turned his head slightly in Sirius' direction but remained staring at Harry. "I assume Miss Evans is here as well?"_

_Harry studied the man's upturned nose, slanted eyebrow, and narrowed eyes. The pose reminded him of Evelyn's face when she ordered the other orphans to bury him in the yard. That look of superiority. On the man's hand was a ring similar to the one Sirius wore to the Ministry; a thick engraved ring with a set jewel on the side, an emblem carved into the top. _

_Turning his attention to Sirius, Harry saw the man once again glancing between the two of them. Sirius' hands fidgeted with the roll of parchment he took from 'Lucy'. Was Sirius nervous for Harry or the guest? "Sirius, your guest asked a question."_

_The man's eyes widened and he nodded, scurrying to stand between them. "Ah, yes… Lily is here too. This, of course, is Harry, my godson. Harry, this is Lucius–"_

"_Malfoy," Harry cut in. He resisted letting his eyes widen the way Lucius and Sirius' eyes did. How did he know that? Thinking quickly he gave a small smile and gestured over to the book on the stand by his side. 'Ancient, Noble, and Honorable Bloodlines of the Wizarding World' gleamed in gold lettering along its spine. "You embody your family's ideals, sir."_

_Lucius Malfoy gave a quick, small smile that crinkled his nose as he did so. It was an unpleasant image that spoke of unfamiliarity with smiling. Harry could sympathize. The expression made Harry believe he caught the man off guard. _

_He noticed the man adjusting his grip on his cane and for a moment admired the snake head adorning the top._

_Malfoy settled for a smooth, slight curving of his lips just shy of remaining a straight line. "You should find nothing less of any Malfoy you meet, Mr. Potter." He extended a gloved hand out to Harry, "It has been a pleasure to meet you." The man drawled the word 'pleasure' and as he kept his hand outstretched, Harry realized the man expected Harry to go to him._

_Bristling slightly at the possible implication of inferiority, Harry quickly thought of a compromise. He slowly got to his feet, and when he reached out to shake the man's hand he quietly urged Saphyr to slither out and rest around his wrist. Harry silently delighted in catching the man's miniscule flinch when Saphyr's tongue flicked against his hand._

_Moving to cradle Saphyr against his chest, Harry turned to Sirius to avoid blatantly analyzing Malfoy's now narrowed gaze. "Sirius, I believe you have work to do?"_

_The man nearly jumped into the air again after being so suddenly addressed. "Yes! Got to go! Agency business." He promptly transformed into his dog form and trotted over to Malfoy, the missive he was given earlier clutched between his teeth._

_Malfoy watched the exchange between Harry and Sirius with growing interest. "Well," he placed a hand on Sirius' canine head and turned one last time toward Harry. "Good day, Mr. Potter." The sound of a crack signaled the pair's departure._

That day Harry formulated new questions and received answers to some old ones. He gained confirmation that the Agency's Animagus wizards turned into animals and that prominent purebloods solicited their services.

His new issue of intuitive information was bittersweet. He could easily see the benefits of such mysteriously gained knowledge, however the ambiguity of the information's source concerned him. Books on genius or prodigies in the Wizarding World were of no help. The cases of natural talent did not seem to relate to Harry's experience. This was not an innate ability to remember learned knowledge. This was knowing without learning. It was unnatural. That thought sparked a fierce wave of _wrong_ in Harry.

The more irritating observation Harry made the past couple of weeks was that Severus knew something. Initially he disregarded the man's acute stares as intellectual arrogance. Now, after too many failed attempts to determine his situation and Severus' stares turning into purposeful remarks, Harry grew suspicious.

Whenever Harry thought he might attempt to glean information from Severus, though, the Potions Master set off one of his triggers. He was seriously uncertain about anticipating or worrying over his first practical potions lesson. The uncertainty was frustrating.

"_Relax, Master,_" Saphyr whispered as she left her bowl to climb up Harry's arm. "_Focus on your lessons with the silent one. The knowledge one imparts is much more valuable than the knowledge one withholds. _"

"_I agree. I fear Severus will never reveal information he wishes to keep hidden._"

* * *

True to Saphyr's advice, the day of the lesson Harry dispelled his thoughts concerning the odd occurrences and paid attention to the Potion Master's words as he entered the tutoring room. The man waved his wand at the ingredients cabinet and various jars and boxes obediently floated out toward the table where Harry sat.

"Today we will work on preliminary tasks for a simple potion for the purpose of practice with ingredient preparation. I have several new students who will be working on the same potion this week, so we will prepare the ingredients for them."

Harry observed the ingredients resting in front of him. Snake fangs, dried nettles, horned slugs… what he thought was a box was actually a cage with a few porcupines sleeping inside. "Cure for Boils, sir? Is this not the volatile potion?"

Severus sighed. "It is quite hazardous, and easily brewed incorrectly, however it involves few steps, even fewer ingredients and the Board of Governors appears to wish future Hogwarts students to learn their first priority is expediency rather than practicality or safety." Amusingly, Severus' scowl deepened with each word until Harry believed new lines were etched into the man's face. "My students hire me to help them memorize methods and pass their tests, not actually learn anything useful, which is why you and I will prepare the ingredients, not them."

A harsh flick of Severus' wand popped the jars open and moved two mortars and pestles closer to where Harry sat. The Potions Master summoned some vials from a nearby drawer.

"We will crush six snake fangs at a time, depositing the resulting powder into each of these vials here. After six vials we will move on to extracting the porcupine quills."

Harry surreptitiously watched Severus gather fangs into his mortar and followed suit slightly afterward. The orphanage's caretaker taught basic letters and numbers to its children, however Harry's self-isolation halfway through his time there meant his education was stilted in that regard. Saphyr was able to assist in reading (as far as translating English lettering to snake language went), and Harry extrapolated that information toward basic writing, however his memory of numbers was stilted and lacking.

The thought of asking _help_ from any of the adults, though, brought bile to the back of Harry's throat. He still had yet to determine how much worse the thought was of being numerically ignorant for the rest of his life.

The sound of fangs turning into a finely crushed dust filled the room, broken periodically by the chink of vials touching the mortar as the powder was moved into them. The repetitive, simple task was surprisingly calming for Harry. In a quick moment of suspicion he wondered if it were purposeful on the Potions Master's part, but remembered Saphyr's advice and turned his attention back to his task.

Adding six more fangs to his mortar, Harry thought about why the task was done manually. One of the texts Severus quizzed him on emphasized the need to minimize the external magic in the potions-making process. The foundation of 'intent' in relation to magic in general, as the author asserted, meant that using magic in the preparatory stages altered the magical potential of the ingredients and instilled an aura of convenience rather than focusing on the expected results of the potion.

Inspecting the snake fangs as he crushed them, Harry wondered at their size compared to Saphyr's fangs. His Jeweled Aqua was relatively small, only able to wrap around his neck once or his wrist a few times. These fangs he was crushing were half the size of her head.

"Severus, what species of snake did these fangs come from? Does their origin matter?"

The man gave a slight jerk of his head as he was addressed and blinked at Harry a couple of times before answering. Had he forgotten Harry was there? "These fangs come from the British Adder, or Common Viper. This particular species does not contain known magical properties and is thus safe for general potions use. Another species' fangs may be preferable for stronger results, however this potion is general enough that a concentrated result is unnecessary."

Absorbing the new information, Harry went back to crushing the fangs before him. He was curious about how the fangs were removed, but though the explanation may disturb Saphyr who was resting around his shoulders.

Said snake was eyeing the cage of porcupines, constantly hissing various questioning remarks about the creatures. With a slight nod he gave her permission to take a closer look. Both Harry and Saphyr only knew of porcupines through books. This was their first time encountering them in person. It honestly fascinated him how the spiky quills moved and adjusted along the creatures' backs as they breathed.

When the serpent approached the cage, the porcupines noticed her and rolled up, their quills spreading to turn the creatures into brown balls of spikes.

"_Did I do something wrong?_" Saphyr's tail flicked around to wrap the snake in a defensive coil. "_I only wished to look, Master._"

Severus' chuckle alerted Harry that the Potions Master caught sight of Saphyr's mishap.

"I apologize, sir, she was only curious."

"Did she tell you that?" A raised eyebrow accompanied the remark.

Harry held his tongue; Aster's initial reaction to the ability to converse with snakes revealed that the gift was _not_ normal, nor was it commonly liked.

Thankfully Severus chose not to pursue his question and gestured to the cage. "It is only a natural defense mechanism porcupines possess. As they calm down they will unfurl their quills."

Looking back at the quills, Harry noticed the miniature barbs along their lengths. "How are we going to extract the quills?" He imagined those barbs made touching the quills exceedingly unpleasant.

"We will brush them."

"Brush them?"

Picking up an item from the top of the cage, Severus showed Harry a wooden handle attached to a piece filled with short, soft bristles. "Yes," the Potions Master answered, "the quills are in reality armored hairs with a loose hold on the porcupine's back. This allows for the quills to be easily discarded if attached to an enemy or threat. They regrow at the same rate as a human's hairs. The trick is to keep the animal calm so their quills are not arrayed in the more dangerous fashion exhibited by the one frightened by your serpent there."

With a look Harry called Saphyr back to him away from the cage. In a few minutes the porcupines relaxed enough to unfurl their bodies and were comfortable enough to be gently picked up by Severus. The man demonstrated how to brush the porcupine's quills from the animal and let Harry try for himself.

A few minutes in, Harry accidentally nicked his finger on one of the porcupine's quills. Before the blood flowed too freely from the cut Severus had waved his wand and healed it. Harry thought he spied the flash of a vial but the moment passed too quickly for him to know for certain. He was more interested in the easily healed cut in any case. Such knowledge would have been immensely beneficial at the orphanage.

The rest of the ingredient preparation passed by without incident.

* * *

After the lesson sitting in his personal study, Severus thought back on his recent observations. Aster's disappearance appeared to have negatively affected Harry's emotional depth. It was a worrying thought to Severus and now, with Lily's concerns in mind, he feared splitting the two twins at birth hindered them. Of course, no one formulated any other alternative to their connected heads at the time. Severus only hoped that Harry and Aster were not burdened because of it.

Looking at the potion-soaked parchment in his hands, he convinced himself it was for the best that Lily not know exactly what he was doing until after the results came out. Preserving the ability to selectively reveal his results could be important. The test was one used by many pureblood families during a child's youth. A single drop of blood from the child would be placed onto the parchment, and the potion coating the parchment then analyzes the drop to check for signs of magic and any possible birth defects. To assure the correct child's blood is on the parchment, the child's name would appear first.

The one inconvenient factor of this test was that the potion possessed a peculiar aversion to sunlight. An aversion many families saw as too troublesome and thus the method was not widely adopted by the Wizarding World. It was one of Severus' ideas to be the Potions Master who cured this triviality, procuring lifelong rewards from the resulting patent and easily manufactured product. Unfortunately, such a solution had yet to be discovered so Severus locked himself in his potions room with strict instructions to the rest of the household not to disturb him.

True to his word, Severus used most of the blood he deftly procured from Harry to key the boy into the wards; as he explained to Lily he only needed one drop for the test. Under the light of a single candle he placed the drop of blood onto the parchment. His eyes stared transfixed as the drop slowly sank into the parchment before branching out into minuscule vines of color.

Not a moment after the potion was able to begin revealing a name, the door to Severus' potions room burst open.

"Severus, I'm sorry, but it's an emergency!" Sirius stood in the doorway, the sun's rays streaming in behind him.

The Potions Master wanted to throw the still burning candle and the ruined parchment at his partner, however in truth he saw enough. "An emergency, indeed…" he muttered and immediately set the botched test on fire. There in the smoldering parchment, the unfinished name _Aster R_ was scrawled across the page.


End file.
